Deadly Nightshades
by Sahxyel
Summary: A MarluxiaCentric fic, for those of you who want to see the Graceful Assassin in a semidignified context. Happy Turkey Day! Up: RFN: Failed Interrogation.
1. Garden

**Sahxyel:** I have no idea what inspired this. I think it was because of me playing Chain of Memories while my brother was watching 'Winnie the Pooh'. Then came the whole inspiration thing. Call it a drabble if you must. Or a one shot. I dunno.

Random Moogle: Inspiring words!

Danny: Yeah, REAL intelligent.

**Disclaimer Guy**: Okay, let's see. In this drabble, Sahxyel doesn't own anything Disney or Square-Enix owns. Go figure huh?

**_Garden_**

Meticulous care.

That's what was needed to keep a garden flourishing. Devotion and care. Whether it was for a vegetable garden or a flower garden, it didn't matter. Both required the same maintenance; the same undying patience and devotion.

He watched from the shadows as a rabbit scurried about a small garden. It ran about here and there, checking various plants and watering them tenderly with a timeworn watering can. The rabbit itself was unaware of the man's presence, humming and watering as if he didn't even exist at all.

Well, that was partially true in the sense of things.

Despite being on a scouting mission, the man had found himself drawn to this particular area. He watched the rabbit with some foreign fascination as it went about. It was obvious how much the rabbit had slaved over the growing vegetables, it was always either outside working in the garden or inside resting.

Being satisfied with the status of the vegetables, the rabbit moved to where a small plant was. It was isolated from the vegetables, in the direct middle patch of dirt in front of the garden. The plant itself was pretty pitiful however; having one bud on its small stem.

The rabbit crooned softly to it while sprinkling water above the tender bud. The man watching gave a shadow of a smirk as he saw the rabbit pour his time into caring for the singular plant.

Finally done, the rabbit stood at the front of the garden. It wiped its brow of sweat and went to retire after the long hours of toiling at his garden.

It grew silent, nothing moved except the trees when a strong breeze swept by. The wind whipped back the man's dark cloak back. He didn't care though, he just stared interestedly at the vegetable garden. The rabbit's garden.

Rabbits were always known as the destroyer of gardens, the scourge of produce if it may be. Yet this particular one cultivated for itself, and by the looks of it, the rabbit would have a good harvest for itself.

The man eyed the whole garden. The various vegetables lined in rows vertically, pointing to the large tree in which the rabbit inhabited or the opposite woods. Tomatoes, pumpkins, carrots, cabbage, squash, celery, and even broccoli were what was being grown. A very impressively sized watermelon lied among, in a lone patch. One's mouth could possibly water by just staring at it long enough.

The small plant with the bud pointed hopefully at the sun, its soft pink petals folded tightly with one another, pointedly looking as though it would never yield to blossom.

Deciding that it was time to move on, the black cloaked man started to walk off, only to stop abruptly. Someone was heading in his direction.

"_The most wonderfulest thing about Tiggers, is that Tiggers are wonderfulest things!"_

Moving swiftly, the man slipped behind a sturdy oak tree as the singing voice grew louder and closer.

"_Their tops are made in the rivers, their bottoms are made in the springs!"_

He peered out from behind the tree to see an orange cat-like creature with mismatched black stripes. It bounced freely on its tail, as if it was a built in pogo stick. Still singing, it leaped over the fence in a single bounce, landing directly on a large pumpkin.

_**SQUELCH!**_

"_They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, wouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!"_ During the verse, the creature had ricocheted all over the vegetable garden, smashing precious plants into the ground. Decimating tomatoes and cabbage with one fell bounce. It finally stopped centimeters away from the small plant was, placing a paw over its chest.

"_But the most wonderfulest thing about Tiggers is that I'M the only one! Hoo hoo hoo HOO!"_ And with the final 'hoo' the demented tiger bounced off of the large watermelon and out of the garden, leaving a wasteland of plant matter. The man in the cloak just gaped at what had just happened.

Cautiously, the man stepped out of the shade of the trees, pulling off his hood with a low whistle. Brownish-pinkish hair was now completely visible, lightly cascading downward until about shoulder length. His eyes were in a look of either shock or, more than likely, disgust at what he had just witnessed.

Stomped leaves of the cabbage littered the ground, among the smashed squash and tomatoes. The innards of various pumpkins glistened in the light of the sun, while small green bug-like creature with red spots on their rumps started to drag some of the ruined food away. The only thing that didn't look touched was the small bud-plant at the front of the garden. Even the carrots didn't escape the craziness of the orange demon.

"Even Axel is merciful...to an extent." the man muttered as he walked along the front path of the garden. Nothing looked like it was spared. He knelt down to observe the remains of a large cabbage head, which had been literally ripped from its roots. Sighing, the man stood back up, rubbing the back of his neck. "What a mess."

Casually strolling around the whole perimeter of the garden, he stopped at the front looking at the bud-plant curiously. He just couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the smallest plant had survived the onslaught. He stared for a moment longer before reaching an arm out. In a flash, a large object materialized in his hand. A scythe.

Fingering the shaft of the scythe, the man blinked at the small plant. He raised his arm, elevating the scythe high...

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Rabbit yawned and rubbed his eyes of all sleep. A long nap after tending to his garden was always called for, especially today. Why? There was so much to be done! Weeds needed to be yanked from the soil, plants needed to be water exactly right, and of course the rutabaga-potato needed the most caring attention.

Honestly, Rabbit didn't know what the plant was, but it seemed to be a cross between both a rutabaga and a potato. He cared for it more than any other plant combined.

Breathing deeply, Rabbit walked to the door, to check on the small plant before supper. Twisting the doorknob, he swung it open.

He instantly gasped.

His whole garden was destroyed. Everything was mashed and crushed into the ground. He almost felt his heart stop, before something clicked into his mind.

"Tigger." he growled angrily. Kicking the door, then howling out in pain, Rabbit headed around the tree, picking up a rake. "He is going to get the biggest lecture ever when I see him next." His ears hung dejectedly over his face, and his mood promptly changed. "I never can have a good harvest. Why can't I? Don't I deserve it?"

It took him a while, but he managed to rake the plant matter into one large pile. He looked at it balefully before turning back to his home. His large foot, however, caught something making him trip to the ground.

"What in the world-?" Rabbit started, but then stopped. He had tripped over his rutabaga-potato. Only it wasn't that.

Instead, a delicate bloom was where the bud was. The pink petals welcomed the world to the most delightful smell of a rose. Partially because it was a rose.

Gasping silently, Rabbit stared at the flower in awe. He had never seen such a big blossom before, so exquisite and beautiful. He sat in the dirt, just staring at the small plant. Smiling softly, Rabbit hauled himself off of the dirt, brushing off the sand on his tail. He turned back to the now-empty garden.

And in two rows, right next to each other, eleven green plants poked themselves from the dirt, ready to grow into the world.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** There we go! Yeah, random inspiration at school. Plus I couldn't write anything for my other two fics. Yeah. Somehow, Marluxia and Rabbit just seem similar in some ways.

Danny: So review if you enjoyed this one-shot!

Random Moogle: She might do more if you ask! (and give her an idea)

Me: Thanks for your patronage!


	2. The Beginning and the End

**Sahxyel:** Oh my god. I just had an epiphany when I heard this song. Something screamed inside that I should write drabble that centers around something having to do with this awesome song. So, it's the last moments with Marluxia in the final battle, his reflections and memories of his Other life. Oh man, I wonder if this could be classified as Angst and Tragedy?

Danny: You're not writing humor? Hmm. I respect that. Carry on!

Random Moogle: Wow, she's really psyched about this one!

**Disclaimer Guy:** Okay, before she gets ripped out. Sahxyel doesn't own Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or the song: Bring Me to Life. There!

**The Beginning and the End**

Astride on his monstrous Nobody, Marluxia watched the door to the realm with a look of intensity. The Keyblade Warrior by now should have defeated his doppelganger. The Sakura petals moved anxiously, awaiting the eminent battle with anticipation. The realm's scenery shifted constantly, from different dreamscapes of sorts, stars and clouds.

He hadn't come yet.

Clenching his fists, the Graceful Assassin watched and waited.

Waited.

He had been backed into a corner. All that had been with him had suddenly fallen, either by the hands of the Keyblade Bearer or by the backstabbing Axel. Marluxia scowled, it was going perfectly, oh so very perfectly.

That wretched witch.

Sternly watching the entrance, he waited. But his focus started to drift.

Something was coming back...

Hazily at first, until it became as clear as crystal. Before he could even decipher what it was, the sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

A fourteen-year-old teenager fan inside, the scenery had turned to the blackest of night. A flash of light, the mighty Keyblade appeared. The Keybearer gripped his weapon, looking around suspiciously.

"Drown in the heart-lorn world of nothingness! I shall scatter your heart to the empty winds!"

In a loud rumble, the large Nobody roared to life. Shaking the very ground in its awakening. In another flash of light, the scenery again was alive in exuberance. He towered over the Keyblade's Chosen One, the scythe-like arms of the Nobody swished about expectantly while the Sakura petals readied themselves for the last stand.

There was only a pause, then a rush.

_How can you see into my eyes,_

_Like open doors?_

_Leading you down into my core_

_Where I've become so numb._

He was sitting in some garden of sorts. Beautiful flowers excreted the most entrancing smells, alluring in beauty. Beneath a cherry blossom tree. Someone was sitting next to him, playfully winding her finger in his hair.

She chuckled, "You must share your secret, how do you keep this garden so beautiful?"

He smirked, "Ah-ah. If I told you it wouldn't be a secret anymore."

Smiling, the woman pulled away from him, but giving him a light push. "Oh you stinker!"

_Without a soul_

_My spirits sleeping somewhere cold_

_Until you find it there and lead it back home._

A large scythe crashed downward, knocking the Keyblade Bearer backwards. Growling angrily, he shuffled through his deck, quickly tapping three cards. He raced forward, giving an array of blows to the scythe. A large crack appeared in the pink metal, obviously it was only made to deal with attacks, but had no defense itself.

Calmly, Marluxia tapped a Seven card, sending another scythe attack. But his mind was eating away at something else. The picture was becoming more vivid inside his head.

A Nine card deflected his attack, allowing a free hit from the Keybearer. The crack grew larger.

With a flash of metal, the Keyblade drove itself into the crack.

It shattered into a million pieces, falling into the Oblivion below.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Wake me up inside_

_I can't wake up!_

_Wake me up inside_

_SAVE ME!_

_Call my name and save me from the dark._

Smiling softly, he stood up. Walking away leisurely, he admired the carnations that were in full bloom. He turned around to see her, smiling and waving back. Her flowing black hair shined in the bright sun, her face filled with happiness.

Then the sun disappeared.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up!_

_Before I come undone_

_SAVE ME!_

_Save me from the nothing I've become._

"Humph!" He tapped a Nine card, flying high above before reappearing right behind the Keybearer. A slash directed straight at him made the boy shout out in pain. Sticking his blade into the air, he declared, "CURE!"

With speed to match he was about to touch a Six card, but was stopped as another barrage of attacks came. Another long crack appeared in his second scythe.

Growling in frustration, he tapped another card, intending of slashing the Bearer again. He was foiled by another sleight that the child produced, smashing repeatedly at the scythe. The crack grew larger and thicker.

He shifted through his deck, but his mind was somewhere else. The memory, it flooded his senses, making him slow to the draw. Before Marluxia could even extract a Zero card, the second scythe burst into shards.

_Now that I know what I'm without_

_You can't just leave me._

_Breathe into me and make me real_

_Bring me to life._

Clouds, stormy and ominous, started to fill the sky. Winds swept up in a strong gale that had never been seen before. He frowned at this unexplainable weather as lightning cracked at the sky. She also looked surprised at the sudden change of weather.

Then it happened.

An explosion of fire erupted from just behind, incinerating the plants in the orange and red flames. He turned to see a large creature floating above the ground. The red and yellow coloration was on its floating torso, a hat of sorts on its head. A strange symbol was on its chest.

It swung its body around, ramming into him and sending himself backwards into a tree. Pain.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Wake me up inside_

_I can't wake up!_

_Wake me up inside_

_SAVE ME!_

_Call my name and save me from the dark._

Pink buds floated protectively around him, shooting petals at the Keybearer with immaculate accuracy. Angrily, the boy jumped upwards, attacking the buds with extreme force. They were unable to withstand the harsh attacks, breaking up and fading away.

Turning, the Bearer forcefully slashed him, delivering a rush of pain.

He tapped another card.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up!_

_Before I come undone_

_SAVE ME!_

_Save me from the nothing I've become._

Her scream came, prompting him to quickly recover. She was still under the tree, now looking concerned. His attention returned to the creature that attacked him, which was moving around aggressively.

Running around it, he made it to his shed where he kept all of his tools. He reached inside and grabbed the nearest thing. A scythe.

Returning outside, the creature rushed at him again. Snarling with rage, he slashed the creature in half, which disappeared in a burst of black mist.

"Look out!"

_Bring me to life,_

_I've been living a lie._

_There's nothing inside,_

_Bring me to life_.

Forcibly, the spike was stabbed downwards in hope to impale the young teen below. But the attack stopped abruptly. Another card break.

He returned to staring down the Bearer, who charged forward again, delivering another attack. His Sakura wrapped protectively around him, deflecting the blows.

The Keyblader jumped away, awaiting his next attack.

_Frozen inside without your touch,_

_Without your love darling._

_Only you are life among the dead._

Quickly spinning around, he slashed behind him a large black creature with extremely long antennae. It also had cold yellow eyes. It swiped at him, cutting his arm.

"Watch out!" she cried.

Another one appeared from the ground, coming up and meeting the welcoming blade of the scythe. He needed to get her out of there.

"Run! I'll hold them!"

"I'm not leaving you!" she shouted back firmly.

Roaring in frustration, he knocked the black creature away from him, running to her to give protection from the strange creatures that started to prowl the garden.

He slashed another one of the black creatures that were slowly starting to surround them, boxing them in.

_All of this sight,_

_I can't believe I couldn't see._

_Kept in the dark,_

_But you were there in front of me._

Coming in full force, he rammed into the Keyblade Bearer sending the child flying backwards. He came around for the second time, but stopped.

Blasted card breaks.

With the pause, the Bearer jumped onto the Nobody. He turned around as they rose into the sky. Buds appeared, ready to protect.

The Keyblade's Chosen One rushed forward, easily destroying the pink buds. With nothing to protect himself, the barrage of blows hit hard.

_I've been sleeping 1000 years it seems._

_I've got to open my eyes to everything._

It didn't seem the swarm would stop. He'd destroy one and two more would take its place. In desperation he slashed out again. She watched in fear as the creatures wide circle started to grow smaller, closing in on them. Still defiant, he landed another blow on one that came too near to her, leaving him open to attack.

He yelled out in pain, a deep gash from another one of the black creatures was given to his torso. Deep red blood started to spill. He refused to back down, slashing it away.

_Without a thought,_

_Without a voice,_

_Without a soul._

The barrage finally stopped, leaving the Graceful Assassin badly wounded. A misstep sent the Keyblade Bearer back down, allowing him to attack finally. Tapping a card quickly, he rose his arm into the air. A storm of blossoms rose, cutting his opponent.

"Cure!"

Stupid healing cards.

The blossoms stopped, leaving him quite dazed. A Keyblade to the face changed that very fast however.

_Don't let me die here,_

_There must be something wrong._

_Bring me to life._

The swarm was fully surrounding them now, but he stood over her, slicing anything that got too close. The thunder rumbled overhead, following was a crack of lightning. At the same moment, a black creature leapt at her.

She screamed, a terrifying and heart stopping scream. He stopped and turned around.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Wake me up inside_

_I can't wake up!_

_Wake me up inside_

_SAVE ME!_

_Call my name and save me from the dark._

He pulled back for another ramming attack, the memory still fresh in his mind. But this time, the Keyblade Bearer deflected it with another card break. Again hopping onto the Nobody. The pink buds appeared, but were quickly dispatched leaving a defenseless Marluxia yet again.

A rain of blows came.

_WAKE ME UP!_

_Bid my blood to run_

_I can't wake up!_

_Before I come undone_

_SAVE ME!_

_Save me from the nothing I've become._

She lied before another black creatures. In a fit of rage, he spun around with the scythe in hand, decapitating all of the creatures that surrounded them. All disappeared in mists of black.

"Come on!" He shouted, pulling her from the ground and leading her away as more of the creatures came. Antennae twitched excitedly as they pursued.

They fled through the garden, she was screaming while he swatted the creatures away. Almost there-

"ARGH!" Pain erupted from his chest.

"NO!" he could hear her scream. His body instantly crumpled to the ground, heartbeat fading fast. Standing above him, with a black hand inside his chest was another black creature.

His vision faded, her frightened face was the last thing he could remember, before the sudden emptiness and darkness.

_Bring me to life._

_I've been living a lie,_

_There's nothing inside._

A burst of light erupted from him, the Keyblade Bearer fell from the Nobody, but the damage was done.

It couldn't end. Not like this. But it was.

He couldn't even remember her name...

In an explosion of light, he disappeared, leaving only floating petals where he once was.

_Bring me to life_

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** The woman is made to be mysterious, so she has no name per say. More possibly because he couldn't remember in the first place.

Random Moogle: Wow.

Danny: Replies!

Replies for Garden:

Poisoned Silver Angel: Thanks. :)

Guavi: Yeah, random inspiration inspired these. Thanks for the review!

hanyou-samurai: Really?

Minnet: I don't hate Tigger. Contrary, he's my favorite character. But I've felt sorry for Rabbit on more of an occasion. It's nice that those descriptions made you laugh. And I sure hope he is.

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** This is now a Marluxia drabble fest. So enjoy if you want! And hope that I get more ideas soon. Also, I won't write romance. For this simple fact: Nobodies do not have hearts. Thus cannot love. Period.

Danny: Review if you like this one!


	3. Movie Night

**Sahxyel:** Okay, to get all of your faces back up from that utterly depressing drabble that was before, this one is a humor one to make you all happy. PreCoM just so you know.

Danny: NOW you switch back to humor. Can I go now?

Random Moogle: No, you have to help Danny! Just like Disclaimer Guy!

**Disclaimer Guy:** Thanks RM, I guess. Sahxyel doesn't own all the movies noted. She's already stated in various fics and chapters that she owns nothing of Kingdom Hearts. So nyah.

**Movie Night**

"Screw off, that movie sucks!"

"No it doesn't! Yours isn't much better!"

"We are NOT watching a rubber fish on the new entertainment system!"

"And we AREN'T watching a dumb western!"

Chaos ensued as twelve of the thirteen Organization members argued over what movie to watch for movie night. DVDs were tossed around everywhere, and voices rose in an argumentative tone. Somehow, the Superior had a sneaking suspicion that this would happen if he allowed a movie night.

But what am I doing talking about him? Obviously, this is all about Marluxia!

"Axel, as much as I'd _enjoy_ watching Independence Day, I'd rather not." Marluxia said quite dryly, emphasizing the word 'enjoy' with a strong dose of sarcasm.

Axel sneered, "And I suppose the Pink Panther is better? Who watches that? Honestly!"

The Graceful Assassin gripped his DVD, glaring at the redheaded pyro. "_I _do. Contrary to belief, it is a good movie. If you'd lay off the explosive action and picked up something else you'd know that."

Roxas walked by, blinking at two who were staring daggers at one another. His DVD was entitled 'The Breakfast Club'. "Okay, before you two kill each other, what DVDs did you pick?"

"Independence Day and Pink Panther."

The Key of Destiny raised an eyebrow, "Pink Panther? Isn't that the cartoon with the big pink cat?"

"No, it's a comedy." Marluxia corrected, "There is a difference between the pink throw rug and the Pink Panther diamond."

"So, it's not about the cartoon?"

"NO!"

"Enough!" the Superior's voice rang through the meeting room, silencing everyone. Marluxia gave a final glare at both Axel and Roxas, before turning his attention to the leader of the Organization.

"Since none of you will agree to a single movie, there is only one option to choose."

Marluxia felt a sinking sensation in his stomach, the only way anything was decided was through the hardest trials imaginable. Axel's cocky smirk disappeared, and Roxas was looking a bit anxious. Frowns appeared on the faces of Numbers IV, VII, and X. Zexion's face, if possible, paled even more than usual.

"The Corridor of Decision!"

A collective groan came from the members, the Corridor of Decision was rarely used but always wielded one winner. It involved a trial from each member, whether it would be a mind or physical test it always depended on the member that created it. Five random trials from thirteen and one winner.

All for a movie to watch on movie night.

"You all know the rules, start at the beginning of the Corridor and end at the Finishing Room. I expect for all of you to finish under thirteen minutes."

That was one thing Marluxia didn't understand. Xemnas always put a time limit when it came to the hall. It didn't matter though, everyone usually passed it.

"The start will be in five minutes." With that, the Superior teleported away, leaving the remaining twelve in a stunned silence.

"I'll get through it faster than you!" Xigbar declared, pointing at Xaldin and brandishing his movie triumphantly.

"Oh please, you only won last time because of a certain _HYDRO_!" Xaldin threw a glare at Demyx, who jumped at the intensity of Number III's look.

Marluxia sighed, teleporting out of the meeting room and into the kitchen. "Not going to stay in there just to play 'My horse is bigger than yours' again." he muttered to himself. He got himself a glass of water and watched the kitchen clock lazily as the seconds ticked by.

"Hey _Marly_! What are you doing in here by yourself?"

Marluxia's eye twitched, he despised that nickname with every nonexistent fiber in his being. Despite being emotionless. Yeah, that was how badly he hated it.

"What do you want?" he asked, taking another sip from his glass.

"Mmm, nothing much. Just wanted to know which movie you picked." Larxene smirked, her DVD was held tightly in her right hand. Marluxia rolled his eyes, tossing the case over to Number XII.

The Savage Nymph snorted, "The Pink Panther? Who watches that?"

"I do." Marluxia replied, somewhat hotly. Larxene chucked the DVD back, giving a small shrug. "Whatever."

She walked pass him, the DVD 12 Monkeys glinted in the lighting of the room as she strode off to find someone else to annoy.

"Not like that movie's any better." Marluxia said under his breath. He drummed his fingers on the DVD case, his attention returning to the clock.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Twelve Nobodies stood at the large black doors that lead to the Corridor of Decision. Tension was thick as everyone threw glares at one another. Xemnas was standing in front of the doors, looking over everyone impassively.

"_I will win this time_." Marluxia thought harshly.

Despite the hall only being used a grand total of six times, he had always made it to the end only to slip up in some stupid way. The last challenge was almost in the bag, Xaldin was only a couple feet in front of him, with Xigbar trailing behind. Then Demyx suddenly collided into them in a wave of water that was quickly frozen over, leaving the three trapped in ice (Xigbar teleported out of the way at the last second). That had to be the suckiest five hours of his existence. Axel just plain refused to melt them out until Xemnas threatened him. Still, five hours was a _long_ time...

The Superior turned, waving an arm through the air. A shiny barrier suddenly shined from the door, quickly disappearing. The doors slowly swung forward.

"Thirteen minutes." Xemnas announced, he walked away from the opening doors and over to the sidelines. The younger and less mature members prepared for a run inside, while the more experienced summoned their weapons, Marluxia included.

It was random what would be the first trial, could be anything from the thirteen trials that each member created for the hall.

The doors were fully open, Marluxia tucked his DVD into an inner pocket. Just in case.

"Go!"

Demyx, Roxas, Axel, and surprisingly Larxene took off from the starting line in a flash, into the treacherous hallway. Vexen walked in with a more dignified pose, along with the other original six of the Organization. Luxord sighed loudly, also walking inside, Saix following in a loping stride. Marluxia was the last to enter, which in a way was a vantage point for him. In a flash of bright light, he found himself at the first trial.

A large white room was the first trail for the Corridor with a single Samurai Nobody inside. It stood at an attack pose, four swords shining from an unknown light source. Marluxia had to shake his head, Roxas was really lazy with his challenge.

The Samurai rushed forward, swords spinning like helicopter blades. Marluxia jumped out of the way, but back-slashed it with his scythe. The Nobody, still powered by inertia, flew into a wall and crashing painfully.

He readied himself for another attack, but the Samurai didn't move. The swords disappeared and it took a bow before also disappearing.

"That was easy." Marluxia muttered, sounding surprised.

Another bright flash, and he was standing inside a large hallway of sorts. The end was in clear sight, but the trials were far from over. Sighing loudly, Marluxia continued onward until the next challenge came. A flash of red light this time.

"You can't be serious!"

A room that was red in coloration was the next one he appeared in. Gripping his scythe, Marluxia walked on cautiously.

"**_WHOOSH!_**" A large geyser of fire erupted from directly in front, singeing Marluxia's robes. He jumped backward, only for another geyser of fire to erupt from behind him, singeing the back of his black robes.

The room literally seemed to erupt with fire, geysers of flame came from the floor in random places. The exit to the room shined in a bright light at the very end of the room.

"Only for the Pink Panther." the Graceful Assassin growled, his scythe disappeared since it would only slow him down though the maze of geysers. The floor under him rumbled, prompting Marluxia to jump away just before a raging inferno erupted from the ground.

He raced forward, craftily avoiding each geyser of fire by a nanosecond it seemed. Fire exploded from all around him, but a sharp turn or a running dash, and he'd be out of the minefield of Axel's concoction. The ends of his hair were charred black, making him grimace slightly. "_I'll get Axel later..._"

Breathing heavily, Marluxia zipped around each geyser that erupted. Almost there...

A gigantic wall of fire erupted from the ground, right in front of the exit. Orange and red flames licked the ceiling hungrily, it guarded the exit apparently.

He seriously considered it.

Aww, screw it!

Taking a step backwards, he inhaled deeply. Axel would suffer later. He really would.

And with that, Marluxia tore off, jumping straight through the inferno. Another bright flash of red overcame his sight before he landed painfully onto the Corridor of Decision's marble floor, groaning loudly.

"Mar! Hey, are you okay?"

Marluxia just groaned again. He shook his head and made to stand back up. That is until something wet nailed him on the back of the head.

Whipping around, scythe in hand, Marluxia swiped air. The pink blade sang in the air, barely missing a younger Nobody. "Woah! Jeez, that was rude!"

Marluxia scowled, "Why'd do you that Demyx?" His voice was dangerously soft, making Number IX twitch uncomfortably.

"Well, your hair was on fire." Demyx replied in a meek voice. Marluxia frowned, feeling his now sopping wet hair. A certain patch was shorter than the surrounding hair, the ends falling off at his touch. His dark blue eyes widened.

Demyx backed away slowly, "Well, I-erm-guess I'll be going now!" The Melodious Nocturne raced down the hall, disappearing in a yellow light. "Aww man, not LARXENE'S!"

Reaching into his cloak, Marluxia withdrew his movie. Surprisingly, it was unfazed from the previous room. Quickly tucking the DVD away, Marluxia stood from the floor, trying to regain some dignity. He swore the next time he'd see-

"WHHARRGH!" another member suddenly appeared from a bright pink flash, landing hard on the ground. Spiky vines and brambles were stuck to the black leather of his coat, and he was muttering belligerently under his breath. Even the flaming red hair was fazed, with large thorny vines sticking out here and there.

Bemused, Marluxia crossed his arms. "Had a good time in my challenge?"

A spiky chakram was his answer, missing him by a long shot and imbedding in the marble white walls. The Flurry of Dancing Flames stood up from the floor, brushing off some of the bramble that was stuck on the sleeves of his cloak, his green eyes focused on the Graceful Assassin. Both smirked at the same time.

Meh, maybe he wouldn't kill Axel later. Throttle maybe, or something involving a majority of pain for the revenge of his now charred hair.

Marluxia strode off towards the closer door. In a bright blue flash, he disappeared again.

"_Blue? Who's that again?_"

A room of a dark blue coloration was up, probably the Cloaked Schemer's room by the look of it. Plus point was that Zexion didn't have any physical trial, minus point was that the puzzles that were set up were incredibly hard. A single table with a homely piece of paper lied not too far off, with a pencil right next to it. Marluxia sighed and scratched his head, THIS was going to take a while.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Almost six minutes later did Marluxia emerge from Zexion's torturous trial. Added with that only left about four minutes for two more trials. Unconscious forms of three members lied in the hallway, one burned, one soaked, and the final one who was halfway frozen. Shaking his head, Marluxia walked pass them, disappearing in an icy white light this time.

The next room was quite noticeable in climate change. Already Marluxia could see his breath mist in front of his eyes. A floor of ice and pillars of cold snow towered in the room. Summoning his scythe, the Graceful Assassin walked cautiously onto the icy floor.

Nothing happened.

Marluxia shuddered from the intense cold as he slowly made his way across the ice. The portal out was at the far end of the room, shining in its white light. This was going to take _forever_.

Or not.

The pillars that dotted around the room had to be for something. His eyes traveled to the pink blade of the scythe. "Hmm."

Swinging it sharply, Marluxia imbedded it into a snowy pillar. The pillar didn't crumble, but stayed firm. Almost as fast as before, Marluxia tugged the shaft of the scythe, propelling himself forward and freeing the weapon at the same time.

Using the scythe, Marluxia gained speed as he used the method, swinging around pillars and shooting off towards the icy white portal. He raised his scythe, just one more burst of speed...

A gigantic spike of ice exploded from the ground, feet away from the pink-haired plant supporter. Before he could properly react however, another burst from the ground right in front of him. Only a moron has to guess what followed.

"Ow."

Prying himself from the large spike, Marluxia analyzed the situation. The spikes seemed to be aiming for whoever came across the ice. He smirked.

In a flash, the stalagmite of ice shattered into large and modest pieces. The pieces of ice skidded across the stretch of floor, setting of chain reactions of spiky ice. Using his scythe, Marluxia once again propelled himself through the maze of stalagmites, easily going around the now confused floor as the other chunks of ice kept it from attacking Marluxia.

Triumphantly, the Graceful Assassin was sent back into the Corridor of Decision, landing on the marble ground elegantly.

"One more."

No other Nobody had made it to the end, otherwise the magic of the hall would have dissipated. Another bright flash next to him proved that no member had made it to the end yet.

Gasping loudly, Luxord came from a dark gray flash of light. Holes in his cloak proved it to be Xigbar's challenge. The Gambler of Fate's DVD, Casino, was gripped firmly in his grasp. He gasped for breath again, sounding like he had just ran for his Nobody life.

Marluxia walked towards the end of the hall, the door was incredibly close now. Almost mere inches away though, another bright flash erupted. This time, a pale gray colored one.

The final room for the trial was a purely gray room. Spiky dark tendrils wrapped around the ceiling and the walls, while the floor itself had the Organization's symbol. Xemnas' trial room. Supposedly the hardest room out of the full thirteen. It wasn't confirmed however, no member had gotten the trial before.

Walking out cautiously, scythe in hand, Marluxia headed for the middle of the room. No portal was in sight, but the tendrils twitched excitedly. Finally, he stood in the dead center of the room. The tendrils were almost jumping in movements, making a clacking sound as the sharp sides hit the walls.

Very unnerving.

The spiky tendrils of Nothingness shot off of the walls, heading straight for the pink-haired Nobody. Waves of the tendrils came, meeting the blade of the Graceful Assassin's blade. He swung, slicing the black thorny objects back into oblivion. No matter what he did though, more seemed to replace the tendrils. They glided in the air like snakes in water, slithering around in a circle. Almost like they were trying to get near Marluxia but couldn't due to the scythe.

"_What's the point of this?_" Marluxia thought to himself, slashing another particularly long tendril. "_What does the power of Nothingness do? And where the heck is the exit?_"

The DVD case inside his cloak rubbed against his chest. Time was running out, and it was getting closer to the deadline. His arms ached from lifting the pink blade into the air, the tendrils surrounded him.

Tired beyond recognition, Marluxia lowered the scythe, breathing heavily. The tendrils were closing in, spinning around in a black vortex. He awaited the pain from the black nothingness.

But instead was met with a flash of pale gray. Dazed, the Graceful Assassin found himself standing a few feet away from the door. "What?"

Nothingness. Obviously, to get through Xemnas' trial, you had to do _absolutely_ nothing to get through. Slapping his forehead at the simplicity, Marluxia headed towards the door.

Something cold whizzed mere inches away from Marluxia's face. The Chilly Academic had just appeared in a flash of purple, his arm outstretched with fragments of ice crystals floating lazily from his fingers. In the grip of his other hand was the movie The Day after Tomorrow.

Both glared at one another, daring to take the next move.

Spinning around, Marluxia raced towards the door, scythe disappearing again as he withdrew the Pink Panther from his cloak. Almost there-

The floor suddenly became incredibly slippery, it shined with much more sheen. Ice. "_Aww sh-_"

**WHUMP!**

Marluxia found himself lying spread-eagled on the now icy floor, mere inches away from the large door that lead to the Finishing Room. Vexen smirked triumphantly, walking across the ice with ease. "_No way I'M letting him win!_" Marluxia thought harshly, focusing his attention on the ground in front of Number IV.

A small green vine poked out from the ice, growing at an incredible rate. It grew gnarled, curling around and spouting small sharp thorns, ensnaring the Chilly Academic's leg.

Almost as ungracefully as Marluxia, Vexen slipped on the icy floor from the jolt of the plant, landing on his face.

Leaping up, Marluxia turned around on the slippery ice, grabbing the door's handles. Smirking triumphantly, he swung them open and stepped inside to the Finishing Room. At the same time, the magic of the hall disappeared, leaving the other missing ten members dazed in the hall.

Grudgingly, the ten tried to muster up some dignity as they walked on towards the exit. Vexen had finally gotten free from the spiky vine and was throwing Marluxia death glares.

"I can't believe that _neophyte_ beat me." Vexen snarled under his breath. Zexion nodded agreeably, looking somewhat sullen too. The DVD Crash was tucked under his arm.

"Score one for the neophytes!" Demyx cheered, pumping a fist into the air. He paused, "What's a neophyte?"

A large purple portal appeared, to which everyone grew silent. Xemnas strolled out, looking distant as ever. His orange colored eyes fell upon the Graceful Assassin, who was still smirking.

"Since our winner of the Corridor of Decision's trials is Number XI, he shall recieve full authority at our new post of Castle Oblivion."

Marluxia looked shocked, while many of the other members started to murmur. Vexen, if possible, looked like he could kill the pink-haired man with his bare hands. "But, what about the movie?"

Xemnas gave a small shrug. "I found something during the trial that I think everyone could agree to." With that, the Superior created another portal, leaving the rest to their own devices.

"_What! I did all of that and I won't get to see the Pink Panther? And what's better than it is?"_

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Twelve members of the Organization watched intently, grabbing popcorn from the seven bowls that were made. Marluxia, however, was scowling. On the large plasma screen T.V was a picture of a very molten world with two people duking it out with glowing weapons that looked a bit like Xemnas' aerial blades.

"Oh yeah, this is good." Axel grinned as the fight ended up on the Lava River. Roxas shoved the redhead, while grabbing more popcorn from the bowl. "Shh!"

Marluxia sighed and wondered whether being the head of Castle Oblivion was worth it.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

_Two weeks later..._

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"The following members are to report to Castle Oblivion." Xemnas declared during the monthly meeting. Marluxia crossed his arms. "Numbers XII, VIII, VI, V, and IV."

Vexen's eyes widened at the Superior. He just didn't...

Oh yeah, suddenly being the head of the Castle was worth it. It really was.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** It's either an attempt at humor or it is. I wanted it to be semi-intelligent but still have some flair too.

Danny: Why does Vexen hate Marluxia?

Me: I dunno. I might write another drabble for that one though!

Random Moogle: Here are the Replies! And Sahxyel would like to express how weird she thought it was that there're _eleven_ reviews total now.

Replies to The Beginning and the End:

hanyou-samurai: I intended it to be sad. Yeah. I have never technically written anything like that before, and I must admit I quite liked it. Fans of Marluxia, UNITE!

organization-member-xiv: That song was what really inspired it. Funny, alot of people were probably happy when they made him a-splode. I don't blame them, he was kinda a pain in the arse to beat. ;)

Silent Dove: Really? Well, here's another one then. Cool!

EliasDameonwing: Maybe. I am seriously considering whether I should delve into her back history, nice pre Nobody would be fun to write...but it's going to take me a while to find a good unmixed name for him.

Minnet: Oops! I did that once with another fic. Hehehe. If I can bring people to feel sorry for Marluxia, I can sleep well at night!

Aldalena: I...? I what? Well, thanks for the review anyway!

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** Yay! Now to contemplate whether to make a supernatural, a mystery, or a parody next...

Random Moogle: Suggest which genre for her! One involves a ghost and a Demyx Marluxia friendship, another a real world incident, and finally a parody of a musical involving a plant...

Danny: Yeah, yeah. So review if you want. Give criticism or encouragement, and your opinion on what Sahxyel should do next. There. Now press the button and get reviewing!


	4. Repercussions or Concussions?

**Sahxyel:** (grins) This is my fourth drabble! The supernatural setting due to ghosts and really weird flashbacks involving the past. Like really weird flashbacks. For everyone's information, it is a Demyx and Marluxia friendship and seems to focus on Demyx, but it doesn't. Just don't ask.

Danny: (eats Mike and Ikes) Well Sahxyel, giving consideration to the other reviewers, you had a three-way tie for the next chapter. But, I reluctantly accept your choice.

Random Moogle: Danny's nice? The world is truly ending! Or maybe it's the candy...

**Disclaimer Guy**: Well, we've got nothing.

**Repercussions or Concussions?**

"_Idiot._"

Demyx sighed, his hands were jammed into his pockets of his black Organization cloak. He walked slowly and purposefully through Castle Oblivion, stealing glances at the various empty and desolate rooms that filled the second base of the Organization.

Only a few days prior and it was full of action. Now, it was just an empty Castle with no purpose.

He passed a vase that was standing by a doorway, with an exotic blue flower coming from the gaping mouth of the vase.

_Demyx was running away...again._

"_Come on Demyx! I'm not going to hurt ya!" Axel's voice said from somewhere behind the Melodious Nocturne. He still refused to stop, racing down the hallway towards Proof of Existence. Running at full speed, Demyx picked ANY of the eleven members' rooms, running inside the closest to the doorway._

_He found himself in a beautiful garden, roses and tiger lilies welcome him inside with beckoning scents. Demyx was fairly sure that was the reason Zexion avoided the newbie's room._

_Whose room was it anyway?_

"_Must be that new guy's." Demyx muttered under his breath, marveling at the plants the filled the room. "How'd he get these to grow so fast?"_

"_Obviously you have never heard of the power of Flora." a voice said from behind. Demyx spun around to see the newest member glaring at him coldly. "Any reason you've decided to come and pester me?"_

_Demyx blinked, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car...or maybe even truck._

"_Oh DEMYX!" Axel's voice brought the Melodious Nocturne back to his senses, who yelped involuntarily and jumped behind the new guy._

"_Well, what do we have here?" Axel's voice came. "A garden? Hmm, how quaint."_

"_Number VIII right?" the new member asked, crossing his arms. Demyx couldn't see what Axel was doing, but it wasn't good._

"_Yep. You Number XI?" Axel asked, he nodded. The smell of something burning suddenly filled Demyx's nostrils. The man suddenly jumped in shock, "Welcome to the Organization!" The sound of a portal being made came, following by the swishing sound of it disappearing._

_Number XI swore loudly, and Demyx could see why. Axel had lit up a nearby plant and left in a hurry, leaving the fire to burn. The Melodious Nocturne frowned, that was rude, even for Axel! Quickly summoning his sitar, Demyx played a small note causing a large rain droplet the size of a pumpkin splash directly over the fire, putting it out._

"_Sorry about that." Demyx apologized, allowing his sitar to disappear. The new member blinked, "Err...thanks?"_

_Demyx held out a hand, "Demyx, Number IX, The Melodious Nocturne." he said with a goofy grin. The new member raised an eyebrow before shaking Demyx's hand._

"_Marluxia, Number XI, The Graceful Assassin."_

Demyx blinked, where'd THAT come from? The day he formally met Marluxia, wow, was that really so long ago? He stared thoughtfully at the blue flower before continuing on, looking somewhat weirded out.

Ascending a staircase, Demyx came to the next floor where the sounds of tinkling glass could be heard. The floor was freezing in temperature, making him shudder from the cold. Demyx passed Xaldin, who was carrying a box of glass vials. Most of the vials still had potions in them, from the multi-colored to the palest gray. Number III didn't even acknowledge Demyx, walking past with his eyes fixed ahead.

Vexen's room had sciency stuff in it, making it look like a second lab. He supposedly never came from the basement of Castle Oblivion, due to issues with Marluxia firstly. Secondly was because the Chilly Academic liked the dark...and cold, which the basement totally fulfilled.

"_Demyx, you should really learn to stand up for yourself."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I don't want to do it all the time!"_

Sighing again, Demyx continued onward. It was going to be different now. Axel and Roxas had reigned supreme over Marluxia's garden as soon as they had the okay to destroy it. The chemistry before was that Demyx helped Marluxia protect his garden from Axel, in exchange for protection against both the pyro and later on his friend, the Key of Destiny.

Now Demyx was having a hard time trying to not get jumped by the two.

Continuing on, he went up another flight of stairs.

_Marluxia was sitting in the kitchen of the Castle that Never Was, reading something at the table. Recently, the Graceful Assassin had been interested in books written by a man named William Shakespeare. Demyx was bouncing around like usual, watching the clock until it would read 5:00._

_That was the only time he was allowed to play his sitar._

"_Hey Mar! When are we going to get Axel and Roxas back for the roses incident?"_

_Marluxia's eye twitched, but he didn't put down the book. "How many times have I told you to stop calling me 'Mar'?"_

_Demyx looked thoughtful, "Fifty?" he tried. Marluxia just sighed, making Demyx grin, "Well, would you prefer 'Marly' instead?"_

"_Good point."_

"_So, how are you going to get back at them?"_

_Marluxia shrugged, "I already did."_

"_How did you-" Suddenly, Axel materialized into the kitchen. His hair was sopping wet, and the gel looked like it was losing the battle against gravity. Roxas came in a second later, smelling very pungent. Alot like a flower. Still not putting the book down, the Graceful Assassin smirked, "Axel, Roxas, how are you this FINE morning?"_

"_Can it." Axel growled. Roxas was glaring at Marluxia angrily. Demyx was trying his best not to suddenly laugh. Almost on cue, Zexion came into the kitchen. He looked to the four before leaving. "I don't want to know."_

Zexion's floor. Nothing much to say. Really.

Demyx just kept heading upwards. Why were all of these memories coming? He reached Lexaeus' floor, but again continued upwards.

"_I'm so weak." Demyx sighed, messing with his sitar's strings, which made a soft humming sound._

"_No you're not, if you're able to hold off Axel for more than a minute then that has to qualify for something." Marluxia pointed out blandly, he was still reading that one book._

"_But I can't BEAT anyone." the Melodious Nocturne lamented, "I just..." he abruptly stopped playing his sitar. "What if I'm the first to fade?"_

"_What?" Marluxia asked, sounding mildly surprised. He put his book down. "You won't fade first."_

_Demyx snorted, "How do you know that?"_

"_Well by judging Zexion, I'd say that he'd go before you." Demyx looked downcast, plucking the sitar stings in a mindless fashion. Marluxia frowned, wrong thing to say obviously._

"_You don't have to let yourself fade." he suggested. "Just leave the battle before you get hurt too badly."_

"_Yeah, just for Xemnas to rip me out." Demyx grumbled. Marluxia sighed in exasperation before picking up his book again. Out of curiosity, Demyx looked at the title._

_Julius Caesar._

"_Who's Julius Caesar?"_

Weird how fate can really screw things up.

Finally at the top floor, Demyx saw that the room had been waylaid with slightly dried out flower petals. A door to Marluxia's room was at the other end. The small petals looped in the air as Demyx walked across the floor. He reached to tug the door open, but it didn't budge.

Frowning, Demyx tried again, tugging the handle with more power. No luck, it was still shut tight. Rubbing his gloved hands together, Demyx made one last attempt to open the door.

His hands suddenly seemed to slip from the handles, sending Demyx downward to his surprise. Air rushed past him, and he painfully collided on the ground. Head first.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Oww." Demyx groaned, his head throbbed like crazy. He slowly sat up from the cold marble floor, rubbing the tender spot of his head carefully. "Stupid door." he grumbled.

"Idiot, couldn't seem to understand it was locked in the first place."

Demyx's head shot upwards, giving a rush of pain to his neck. "Mar!"

"Huh?"

Sure enough, Marluxia was standing off to the side of the room. But something seemed weird about him. Probably the transparency or the wispy gray color he seemed to be washed with. Not to say in the least that Marluxia looked surprised. "You can see me?" he asked.

Slowly, Demyx nodded. His eyes were wide, mouth hanging slightly open. Marluxia rubbed the back of his head, but still Demyx could see through him clearly. "Well, this is interesting."

Demyx stood from the floor, wincing as his head gave a mighty throb. They both stared at one another, judging by appearance.

"Why'd you do it?"

Marluxia looked startled, "What?"

The Melodious Nocturne blinked, looking serious for once in his existence. "Why'd you go against Superior?"

The Graceful Assassin shrugged, "It involves...something that I found out about him." he replied quietly. "Afterwards, I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him...hmm, maybe that's a bad analogy."

"But look what happened!" Demyx shouted, gesturing to Marluxia's pearly form. "You're like some sort of freaky ghost! Just because you got a power trip from being put in charge!"

"Wouldn't have mattered. All of the Organization will fall soon." Marluxia said bitterly, strolling over. His cloak rippled in some unseen wind. "Because of the incompetence of its leader."

Demyx glared at Marluxia, "We won't fade! At least we are still loyal, maybe that's what we needed. Loyalty."

The pale ghost-Marluxia snorted, "Xemnas' lies can only hold for so long."

Determinedly looking away, Demyx instead chose to glare at a wall. Marluxia just seemed to stand there, staring at the younger Nobody. After a while, Marluxia walked towards the locked door sliding through the wall effortlessly. Demyx scowled, "Fine!"

Taking a deep breath, Demyx tried to clear some things up. One, Marluxia was a ghost. Two, he could only see him. And three, he was here. Able to talk to him! Weird. But somewhere, Demyx didn't know where, but something remembered the feeling of happiness. The emotion was just as fresh as it was used before, the filling of it. However, the void in his chest ate the memory greedily, leaving the elation vanishing.

But still, he was _happy_ for a second. A very short brief second.

"_Nobodies can't feel Demyx." Marluxia sighed as Demyx started on another rant about emotions._

"_Well, that something from our memories has to do something! I've felt it before." he grinned. "The memory just makes it fill, even for a second."_

"_Pfft." Marluxia disregarded the Melodious Nocturne, reading again._

Looking determined, Demyx marched up to the door to Marluxia's evermore-locked room. He rapped on it hard, then crossed his arms.

"What?" Marluxia's head appeared through the door, spooking Demyx instantly.

"Arrrgh!" he jumped back, wild eyed. "Don't DO that!"

Marluxia emerged from the room, "Well, what did you want me to do? Shout 'come on in'?"

Demyx cleared his throat, freeing himself from the shock of Marluxia suddenly popping out of a door like such. "You were wrong." he stated, before grinning widely. Marluxia gave Demyx the 'What-the-heck-are-you-talking-about?' look. "The emotion thing."

"That?" Marluxia questioned, before sighing, "Already told you, Nobodies don't-"

"But we have the memories." Demyx interrupted, "Sometimes, those can work just as well."

Marluxia looked away, contemplating what Demyx had said. After a minute, he smirked. "Whatever will get you through existence." he said. Demyx couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the remark.

"Just out of curiosity, Axel and Roxas had a blast inside my garden right?" Marluxia asked, he started to walk towards the stairs, with Demyx following. It seemed almost surreal to Demyx, who was looking straight at a vase that was on the opposite side of the Graceful Assassin. He nodded, which in turn made Marluxia frown. "All that wasted effort." he sighed.

"Well, it was nice when it lasted." Demyx pointed out. They reached the stairs, going down at a slow and purposeful pace.

"Interesting." Marluxia mused, smirking slightly. "Axel and Roxas, the inseparable duo. Devoid of feeling yet somehow got some form of pleasure from destroying my garden." He shook his head, the transparent locks of his hair fluttered around in an ethereal mist. "I don't know if I'd miss it or not."

It was Demyx's turn to look surprised. "What do you mean? I can see you, and you can go around, so why can't-"

"Only you've seen one of us. Should have seen how desperate Vexen was in stopping Xaldin. Of course, Number III just walked through him. We can only wander around, kind of." Marluxia shrugged again. "It's a weird combination of being a ghost and something else. Zexion and Vexen haven't decided it yet."

"So, all of you are stuck here?" Demyx asked, Marluxia nodded. "Well, umm, I could try and figure out-"

"Knowing your brain capacity, I forbid you to do that kind of thinking." Marluxia said, still continuing downward. Demyx frowned, "Hey!"

"_Okay, the agenda for today?"_

"_One: Water garden."_

"_Uh-huh, we already did that."_

"_Two: Get back at Roxas for destroying your CD collection."_

_Demyx smirked, "That picture will be gold for years to come."_

_Marluxia nodded before continuing, "Three: Go and do our assignments from Xemnas before he kills us."_

"_Can't we just do that tomorrow?" Demyx asked in a whiny voice. Marluxia shook his head, "We've already put that off for a week."_

"_Aww."_

_Sighing despondently, Marluxia left Demyx to see where his scouting mission was going to take place. Leaving Demyx alone. In the hallway. By himself..._

"_Boo!" The Melodious Nocturne jumped, someone had grabbed him by the neck, holding him off the ground. A gloved hand appeared in front of his face, open as if expectantly._

"_The picture Demyx."_

_Aww man._

_Reaching into his pocket, Demyx withdrew a picture with Roxas on it, sleeping with a small brown teddy bear with a burn on the ear. The picture was immediately snatched away, and both raced off leaving Demyx coughing on the ground._

_Wow, they sure knew when he was alone. Creepy._

It was certainly worse now at the Castle that Never Was. Incessant torture, and the sudden extreme jumpiness of Number IX. He always thought that either Axel or Roxas (possibly both) were sneaking up on him. They didn't try that kind of stunt when Marluxia was around though. Something about decapitation or having to do with pain and a pink scythe.

He had to admit when both Axel and Marluxia were gone it was interesting with just Roxas there. One prank lead to another which lead to an 'accidental' double-prank on Number VII.The two never used glue and feathers again. Never.

Marluxia looked tired. That much was certain. Of course, Demyx reasoned that being beaten to the point of death by a key would make anyone look tired in the afterlife. Well, if it WAS an afterlife.

"So Demyx," Marluxia started, "How is Kingdom Hearts coming along?"

Demyx blinked, he almost forgot that Marluxia left when the heart-shaped moon was just a small figure compared to the imposing one that was growing every day. "Uh, it's bigger now." he said vaguely, "Looks more like a harvest moon than a regular one."

"Hmm."

_Demyx had been quiet when he entered Proof of Existence that fateful morning. He had been chipper as usual, singing some downright annoying song until he noticed the platforms for the five members on the ground. Instead of a normal blue, the lights were at a pinkish-red coloration. Demyx just ogled in disbelief._

_Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Larxene and Marluxia._

"_Nuh-uh." he whispered, staring blankly at all five. Almost the whole Oblivion crew, excluding Axel._

"_Shame, ain't it?"_

_Demyx spun around to see said pyro standing behind him. For once though, a malicious glint wasn't in his eyes. He looked more resigned than anything else, arms crossed and staring at Demyx in a thoughtful manner._

"_Why-?"_

"_Planned to overthrow the Superior." Axel explained coolly. "That and a little help with the Keyblade Bearer and all of them met a messy end."_

_Demyx stared at the red space that was under Marluxia's portal to his room. He felt unexplainably emptier and lonelier than before, like his mind was wiped with a fuzzy cloth._

"_Number XI orchestrated the plan."_

"_He did?"_

_Sure, Marluxia had always disliked the way Xemnas ran the show. But Demyx didn't hear the Graceful Assassin complain about it once. But then again..._

_He did seem distant with everyone before leaving to Castle Oblivion. Sighing, Demyx looked at Marluxia's weapon plate. The scythe could be seen clearly from the pinkish lighting. Pink was always Marluxia's color, even if everyone else in the Organization teased him about it._

_Demyx frowned, it was like almost losing a friend._

_But Nobodies couldn't **really** have friends. Right?_

"Weren't you all supposed to fade back into darkness?" Demyx asked curiously, passing Vexen's room on the way down. Demyx could see the Chilly Academic's transparent form, who was sulking over the remaining potions that Xaldin didn't take.

"It's a complicated matter." Marluxia sighed, "I thought I was doomed to the Purgatory of Darkness myself. Imagine the shock of knowing that we can still be here." He frowned, "But, we always have the choice of leaving."

"Leaving?" Demyx echoed, looking skeptical.

"Yes. There is a peculiar door that Zexion believes leads to the main darkness." Marluxia explained, "Lexaeus had gone inside to inspect it, but we haven't seen him since. Larxene also entered the door, just for the heck of it." He smirked, "She said she never wanted to hang around and do nothing anyway."

"Are you thinking about leaving?" Demyx asked, well, more blurted out. The Graceful Assassin rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Maybe."

They finally reached the final steps, before coming out in the great entrance room for the Castle. Something was there, however, that Demyx didn't see when he had originally entered. A towering and imposing black door was on the west wall, the ghostly figure of Zexion was standing next to it.

"Ah Marluxia, I believe I've-" Zexion turned around before sighing, sounding annoyed. "Number XI, even IF you follow him around, he won't be able to see you. Or hear you."

Marluxia smirked and Demyx broke out into a large grin, "Hey Zexy! How are ya?"

The Cloaked Schemer looked surprised, "Number IX?" He asked with uncertainty.

"That's my number." Demyx chuckled.

Zexion just blinked, still looking surprised. "What did you want to tell me Number VI?" Marluxia asked, snapping Zexion from his surprised stupor.

"Well, I-" Zexion stammered, still semi-shocked, "I discovered that this door does indeed go to the dark realm. Unfortunately, there isn't any way out for our comrades." He frowned. "But, it is our only option. Unless you would rather prefer to walking about aimlessly for eternity."

"Or I could get the other members to help you." Demyx suggested. Zexion just shook his head, and Marluxia looked downcast. "Why not?"

"Because they won't believe you." Marluxia answered. "I doubt that even Xemnas would either."

"Well, you guys don't have to go and rot in the dark forever!" Demyx countered, exerting a memory of anger. Zexion sighed, "I'm going to get Vexen. Chances are he's driving himself crazy by watching his studies disappear right in front of him." With that Zexion walked towards the stairs and started to head upward.

Marluxia looked at the door with the same deep look of thoughtfulness. Demyx noticed this, "You aren't **really** thinking about going are you?"

The Graceful Assassin didn't answer. Demyx looked down, possibly put out.

"Would you hang around after your death?" Marluxia asked, "Wandering about with no one to talk to but others like yourself?"

Demyx opened his mouth, but then shut it. Would _he_ go when he faded, or died, whatever? "Probably not." Demyx mumbled, staring at the floor.

It stayed in an ominous silence. Marluxia was still staring at the door, his eyes scanning it carefully. Demyx was still focusing on the ground.

"Back." Zexion's voice came from the stairwell. Two pearly figures stepped out, one scowling and the other just looking extremely tired. The two approached the door, before Vexen finally spoke.

"So, how long will this door stay in existence?"

"Not very." Zexion replied, "The dark energy is growing weaker, so it will either disappear and let us linger in this limbo of life and death, or it will simply not open again."

Vexen paid no attention to either Marluxia or Demyx, approaching the door. The handles shined eerily, looking as though it was made of a dark onyx. Finally pulling from hesitation, the Chilly Academic grabbed the handles and swung the doors open.

Instinctively, Demyx shut his eyes as a blast of stale air came from the door. He squinted to see what was inside.

Well, it was dark, he had to give it that. Purplish and dark navy blue colors were thrown into the mix of a swirling interior of the door. Everyone just seemed entranced by the display of colors that ultimate darkness seemed to possess.

With a nod to both Marluxia and Demyx, Zexion walked straight inside. The normal swirl seemed disrupted as the colors became mixed with one another. After a moment though, the swirls returned to normal. Not a trace of the Cloaked Schemer remained.

Still not acknowledging either of the two left, Vexen also headed inside. Soon it was just Marluxia and Demyx standing in the entrance hall of Castle Oblivion, staring at the portal to darkness.

"I guess this is it huh?" Demyx asked Marluxia, sounding uncharacteristically flat. Marluxia raised an eyebrow.

"Demyx," he started, "I need to do this. You too probably, later on." He gestured to the portal, which was still swirling lazily. "It isn't worth it to wander for eternity, as a Nobody. I see no point of it. It's like watching my other garden inside my room at the top floor. It may seem nice at first, but in the end will only bring possible madness."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If I stay, I will watch as the garden I have cared for deteriorate before my eyes. Not in a blazing inferno, like what possibly happened to my previous one. It would die _slowly_. I can't help it, or tend." He swung his arm through the air as a demonstration, which easily went through a marble wall. "You'll only see, but cannot do."

Demyx knew he was right, so he only sighed in defeat.

Marluxia walked towards the interior of the door, which was starting to grow dimmer. Demyx just watched, helplessly and blankly.

"_Can Nobodies have friends?"_

_Marluxia shrugged, still reading his book. "I don't think so, but then again I guess Nobodies could."_

_Demyx chuckled, "That would explain why Axel and Roxas hang out all the time then."_

_A smirk came from Marluxia, "That or something else."_

_It took a while for Demyx to figure out what Marluxia was implying, before throwing a water ball at his head. "Gross!"_

_The water splashed against Marluxia's pinkish hair, soaking him instantly. His eye twitched._

"_Oops." Demyx muttered, suddenly tense. But Marluxia didn't move._

_Surprised, Demyx looked at the Graceful Assassin cautiously. "Mar-WAARGH!" A flurry of pink petals materialized from nowhere, spraying right into Demyx's face._

"_Gotcha." Marluxia grinned, before getting up and leaving. Demyx was in shock, his mullet was covered in flower petals._

The ripple of the portal stopped, and like a light, the dark door started to fade away. Demyx watched as the fragments, like opposite confetti, floated from the door and into the ceiling.

The Melodious Nocturne stood there, staring at the ceiling, before turning back around with his hands jammed into his pockets. Demyx walked towards the front doors of Castle Oblivion. But, unfortunately, failed to notice that a stray vial way lying on the ground.

The sickening sensation of falling enveloped Number IX's senses as he slipped on the glass.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Do you think he's waking up?"

"Probably, he's been twitching recently."

Demyx groaned, opening his eyes to see that he was lying on the floor. Two people were standing over him. One was Xaldin, who was looking distant as always. The other was Luxord, who was in the basement of Castle Oblivion during the whole affair.

"Number IX, are you alright?" Luxord asked, "You took a big hit to the head earlier."

"Huh?"

Demyx realized that he was at the top floor of Castle Oblivion, lying in front of the door to Marluxia's old room. "Wasn't I downstairs?"

"No." Xaldin replied, "You were up here trying to open that locked door."

Demyx blinked, "_So I dreamed of all that stuff? About Marluxia's ghost and Zexion's and Vexen's? It wasn't real?_" He frowned, looking away. A concussion, had to be. But, it really did feel real. Like he really did talk to Marluxia...before...

"_What IS real anymore?"_

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel**: I confused myself with that, but overall, I liked it. Really cute and fluffy.

Danny: Wait, so MOST of that really didn't happen?

Me: Could have or couldn't have. Consider the Supernatural (and maybe even spiritual) genre.

Random Moogle: Here are the replies!

Reviews for Movie Night:

hanyou-samurai: Sorry that I didn't do that. I have no idea what the plot would be. I do think about the plots before writing the one-shot itself. Yeah. But if you want, I'll try and think of something. ;)

Scylla Desdemonia Ophelia: Here is the supernatural one. Ghosts and portals to a sort of death count as that...right? Vexen is fun to write, but he's getting too much time in these. Old jerk won't stay out of my plots though, hehehe.

EliasDaemonwing: Thanks for the complement! I try to stay as original as possible!

elysianrose: Thanks. I am one of the people who just said, 'screw it' and wrote some good fanfiction about him. Yay for me!

Moonshine's Guide: I seem to get that comment alot. I wonder why... :P I AM doing Mystery next. But the sub-genre will be chose by most popular vote. How'd you know that Danny liked Mike and Ikes?

Danny: Yay for candy! (eats)

organization-member-xiv: It was good? O-O Yay, I thought it was stupid, but that's me. Zexion's challenge involved a math word problem (I.E: Two trains left a station at the same time. One traveled at 72 mph...) and the other involved finishing a half-completed Suduko puzzle. He's evil, I'm telling ya...

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** Even if that didn't focus on Marluxia totally, it dealt with a friendship. And I liked it. I liked it alot. The next chapter will be Mystery but the sub-genre will either be: Sci-Fi (Right from Nowhere) or Humor again (Who IS Walt Disney?). The Sci-Fi DOES involve Marluxia ending up in the Real World in a weird sciency way. The other is something that everyone in the Org. is wondering about. It contains breakage of the fourth wall...alot.

Danny: So one is stupid and the other is semi-intelligent?

Random Moogle: That's what Sahxyel says anyway.

Me: P.S: If any of you think I'm implying something between the two, I will looks at you and say this: You have a VERY sick mind. Also Review, I need opinions on the sub-genre for the next one. Yeah.


	5. Right from Nowhere

**Sahxyel:** I have no idea whether I want to change the title now. I want these to be connected in some way or another; it makes it interesting and very varied in story selections. I guess I could classify each excerpt as a drabble, and all happen to connect in a way. Yeah, I think I'll do that.

**Disclaimer Guy:** While everyone has a premonition, Sahxyel states that she owns nothing you losers. Only her brain, which seems to have more value that it did a month ago.

**Right from Nowhere**

"Huh?"

He blinked, not quite sure what was exactly happened. Everything was going too fast. Explosions, screams, the satisfying sound of a scythe rushing through the air. It was like he was there but wasn't at the same time. But now it was over, leaving a smoking building in the wake. The plants summoned shrunk into the ground, probably reluctant from being in such an arid environment.

A full moon loomed overhead in the endless black sky. Small stars varying in size and color twinkled innocently from the dark blanket of night. "Saix would _love_ this place." Marluxia muttered, his eyes scanning the impossibly large circular moon. How long had it really been since Castle Oblivion? A week? Month? Years probably, time was no factor in the endless plains of darkness.

The area around was very unfamiliar, and strange too. For some reason, Marluxia had a suspicion that his _depth_ had increased drastically. Detail was very prominent in the new and alien world. He could easily see the difference between a speck of granite from the surrounding fine sand that covered the whole valley he was in. Sparse shrubs and varying rocks littered the landscape too.

A desert.

The Graceful Assassin again tried to decrypt his memories, wondering how exactly he had even come back into being, much less on such a world. All he could vaguely remember was a tugging sensation from the dark oblivion, a room of some sort, wailing alarms, hissing and spitting machines, and the singing of the scythe...

Walking slowly through the devastation of the building, Marluxia could see that wherever he was had some great technological advances. Many machines were there, halfway destroyed but still looked impressive. The only untouched thing was an arch-like machine. It looked like it was still running, regardless of the demolition of the building. Marluxia suspected it was connected to some alternate power source probably.

The air was fairly humid, despite the missing sun, suggesting that it probably grew extremely hot during the day. It wouldn't be wise to stay for any reason. An asphalt road seemed to stem from the destroyed building, going straight out into the desert. There had to be some sort of town at the end of it surely.

But why even explore this place? What if everyone from the Organization was existing again? He _needed_ to check the World that Never Was. He concentrated on summoning a portal.

After a minute, he realized one was not going to materialize anytime soon. "Great." Marluxia growled. Stuck in the desert. Dandy. At least he still had his scythe...

Sighing, he started to walk away from the destroyed building. A world where depth was impeccable and darkness seemingly had no hold over. Must have since no portal could be summoned by will. Vaguely, Marluxia wondered how far it was to the closest town.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The sun shined down upon the desert, scorching anything that lied under its glowing girth. Shriveled plants dying of thirst seemed to shudder under its light. Lizards and snakes hid themselves under small rocks, hiding from the heat. And on the lone road was Marluxia, determinedly continuing onward. A black figure amidst the sandy valley.

"I hate this cloak." he muttered, his scythe glared in the light, almost in protest. The sun was literally cooking him, black leather rain cloaks were not the best items of clothing when traveling in a desert. Moisture accumulated on his brow, but his weary dark blue eyes were fixed at the road ahead.

It just kept on going.

Plants always withered in such intense conditions, as to what Marluxia knew from his own element. Not even a cactus was seen. Endless sand, dirt, and road. The overpowering idea of sleep dominated the Graceful Assassin's mind as he crested another hill, only to see another wide valley. The sun was messing with his head, making him dizzy.

Marluxia was leaning against his scythe, breathing heavily. It was like breathing with an elephant on his chest. A wavy and reflective place was far off, but was just a mirage. Marluxia was almost relieved, "At least I'm still thinking clearly."

He wasn't going to die in this desert. **No**. His last death was tolerable, in the heat of a battle. But to _die_ out in some desert? Not going to happen. Taking a deep breath, he started down the hill and into the next valley.

Smirking, Marluxia remembered something Demyx had said to him. "_Jeez Mar, you sure are determined when it comes to an idea huh?_" Determination, added with some sneaky planning, could (almost) get any job done. Almost too easy sadly. Of course, he never told Demyx that.

Speaking of which, did the rest make it out of the Purgatory too? His mind traveled as he carefully walked around a basking snake with a rattle-like appendage. It paid no notice, seemed asleep almost.

The further he walked, the more Marluxia seemed to depend on his scythe while walking. His breathing became ragged gradually, sweat easily forming in the intense heat. It was like the sun was beating down with all its power. The sleep-urge was growing ever stronger, his mind hazy with uncertain thoughts.

Finally he stopped, standing in the middle of the road, just breathing heavily and staring at the road ahead. It just didn't seem to stop. Maybe it wouldn't...

With a defeated sigh, Marluxia collapsed on the asphalt. His consciousness gone before he hit the ground. His scythe fell with a clatter, still glinting in the light.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Is he dead?"

"I dunno, check his heartbeat."

"..."

"Hun?"

"Must be really faint, he's breathing but I don't feel a pulse."

"Crazy. Why would someone walk way out here in black too?"

Marluxia could hear these voices, but made no motive to move. He was still groggy, and barely conscious too. All he could really do by will was breathe, every other motor function seemed foreign.

"Hmm, maybe this'll help."

Suddenly, something wet hit his face, snapping Marluxia back into reality like some plant who finally got a dose of water. He sputtered, his eyes opening in a flash. Without taking anything in consideration, he sat up from the road, coughing and rubbing his face of the liquid, to his relief it was water.

"That seemed to work."

"_I'll_ say. Are you okay sir?" Marluxia finally saw whoever saved him from cooking alive out in the barren wasteland. A couple stood a few feet away from him anxiously, and who watched him cautiously. He nodded slowly, not really sure on the customs of the new world he was on.

The couple were young, both probably in their mid-twenties. The man was wearing a casual suit, with a tie that fluttered in the breeze that picked up. The woman on the other hand was wearing jeans and a dark blue blouse with a tag pinned to it. The man rubbed the back of his neck, "Thought you were dead for a second, we drove up here and saw you lying in the middle of the road."

Marluxia blinked, drove up here? He noticed a strange looking vehicle (compared with the blocky Gummi Ships he'd seen for most of his nonexistent life) parked on the side of the road. It was fairly large with rubbery tires and a black paint job. Maybe a car? Had the same configuration...

"Do you know how far it is to the next town?" Marluxia asked gruffly, his voice seemed cracked from the heat. Probably was.

"About twenty more miles." the woman piped up. He sighed despondently, a long walk was still at hand. "What are you doing out here anyway? All that's at the end of the road is the government's research facility. Did you break down somewhere?"

He wasn't exactly sure what 'break down' was, but Marluxia decided to play it safe with his answers. "I got dropped off out here, started walking to see where it'd lead me."

The woman shook her head, "Well, you won't make it another minute out here. It's in the hundreds right now!"

Hundreds? Marluxia had a sense of satisfaction upon hearing this. Determination is an excellent drive, aside from desire that is.

"Do you need a ride to town?" the man asked, his fingers rubbed against a set of keys in his hand. Inwardly, Marluxia grimaced at the keys. Not very fond memories came from those.

"Yes." he replied, his voice still scratchy from the heat.

A loud beep suddenly came from the vehicle, slightly startling the Graceful Assassin. "We have to get moving, the car doesn't do too good sitting out so long." the man explained, while the woman helped Marluxia stand up. He noticed that his scythe was nowhere in sight. Must have recalled itself luckily, the weapon would have frightened the people if they saw it **_that_** was for sure.

The woman helped him into the car, which Marluxia had to admit it was nice in a way. Far more luxurious than any Gummi Ship he'd flown in. The seats were upholstered and comfortable, cool air came from an air conditioning unit on the dash of the front of the car where a wheel for driving the vehicle was. He was situated in the back seat, which was virtually fine with the Graceful Assassin.

Nice hospitality on this world at least. Or the people were just extremely friendly. Normally, from all the scouting missions he had ever been on, Marluxia found world inhabitants to not even pay mysterious black cloaked people a second glance. Distrustful, the lot of them. This world was different in more than just looks though. Just some notion that something **_had_** to be different.

The couple climbed into the front seats, shutting the doors with limited force. The man placed the key into the side of the steering wheel, turning on the ignition. With a light purr, the car started to life, pulling off the side of the road and making a full U-turn, back towards town.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"_This world is too big."_ Marluxia thought, astonished at the unrelenting miles of whatever world he was on. Most worlds were severely restricted in travel-wise areas. This world just seemed to go on and on and on...

He had chosen wisely to remain silent over the trip into town. The couple both explained that they were heading towards their job (at the government's research facility) after getting an odd phone call. Luckily, none of the experiments were top secret so they also mentioned what was being worked on and what it did, most experiments involving a complicated terminology for chemicals that Marluxia just didn't seem to catch were what they mostly chatted about.

Eh, that was Vexen's domain anyway.

"Do you live up North?" the woman asked politely. Marluxia quickly decided to nod. The woman in turn also nodded. "Ah. That explains the cloak. Must live in Seattle or someplace like that huh?"

Most of the questions were fairly easy to answer, not too pressing. Most was simple talk anyway. They kept mentioning the town, called Baker, which was the closest to the deserted wasteland they were in. The endless valley of dust and rock, to which Marluxia found interesting, was mentioned to be Death Valley. Funny...almost anyway.

An object could be seen now in the windshield window. Marluxia couldn't help but just _stare_ at it. Something that just seemingly stuck out from the sand, towering above everything else that stood beneath it. Honestly, for a Nobody who had 'seen it all' this structure was a fairly new thing.

"Wow, _one hundred and ten degrees_? It's scorching outside!"

"You could say that again." Marluxia muttered under his breath, eyes locked onto the monument. Which, surprisingly, was a giant thermometer. In digital numbers on the very top showed the temperature outside of the cool car.

"Well, here we are." the man said, almost in a relieved way. "Good thing too, the car was going to run out of gas soon."

The woman frowned, "I thought you filled it up before we left."

"Uhh..."

Marluxia wasn't really paying attention again, now with the giant thermometer pushed out of his mind, the Graceful Assassin instead studied the small town that seemed to surround the monument. Various buildings with tall signs were situated next to a highway, where many vehicles sped on by in high speeds. Some cars pulled off of the highway, into the town. Mostly stopping at some stations where signs with numbers were posted. "_**Very** odd world."_

They pulled into one of the stations with the numbers posted, one that read "Flying J". The stations were fueling station for the cars, obviously. Only two other vehicles were there, a bus with many windows and screaming adolescents inside (going on about some convention of some sort) and a small car with a man who stood at the side, fueling his vehicle. The man turned off his vehicle, removed his keys, and got out. The woman followed suit, and finally, Marluxia also disembarked.

A radiated blast of heat came as soon as he opened the door, his hair wilting in the humidity and heat. Marluxia frowned at this, he didn't remember it being _that_ hot earlier. Shaking it off, he climbed out and shut the door with a definitive snap. The teenagers who occupied that large vehicle suddenly silenced for some odd reason.

"Well, here we are. Baker." the man said, nodding towards Marluxia. "Do you need a mechanic or anything...?"

"No. I have some other arrangements." Marluxia replied coolly, his voice considerably better than earlier, with the calm tone re-established. The vehicle with the teenagers suddenly broke out with really loud whispers, many of the kids sounded excited. Still, Number XI took no notice.

"Well, if you're completely sure. I guess we'll be going then." the man nodded, "I'd gas up here, but I think Chevron would have better prices. Maybe Arco even."

Puzzled, Marluxia watched as the two left. The air, sticky and hot, penetrated his senses but the Graceful Assassin's thoughts were elsewhere again.

Darkness.

It was weak here, but all the same, it _was_ in the town of Baker. Manipulation of the surrounding darkness could perhaps be enough to fuel a portal to the World That Never Was. The problem was that there wasn't enough darkness. Not here anyway. Maybe, theoretically, a larger town might have enough power...

But where in the vast wasteland would there be a larger town?

"Umm, excuse me." a small voice said, sounding timid and shy. "Sir?"

"Hmm?" Marluxia looked slightly to the left to see a small girl with orange-red hair gazing questioningly at him. She was wearing a cap that read: Annual Gamer Convention 2006, jeans, and a blue shirt with a small symbol on the shoulder. Her bright green eyes seemed to study Marluxia's whole being.

"Uh. Umm. W-We were all wondering if you needed a ride into Vegas." she murmured quietly, her gaze unrelenting. "You see, we saw that you don't have a ride, and, well-"

"Oh, get on with it!" a loud voice came from the bus.

The girl seemed silenced at this, and looked at her feet. Obviously, she was too shy to speak.

"Vegas?"

She suddenly looked up, eyes shining. "You know? Las Vegas! Where the Gamer convention is held?" It was like a renewed person jumped in place of the timid child. Marluxia's blank stare seemed to answer her question. "You've never heard of it?" she asked, sounding downtrodden.

Murmurs again broke out on the adjacent bus.

"Well, you know where Mandalay Bay is right?" she asked, cautiously now. Marluxia took a sharp glance at the bus, to see many faces looking out in anticipation and partial caution. Having a sneaking suspicion that something disastrous would come from not replying, Marluxia nodded.

The girl's face lit up while some of the faces on the bus turned away in disappointment. "Great! The convention takes place in the convention center for the week! Everyone from every franchise goes to it! Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, they all are there!"

A great gathering like that? Surely enough darkness would be accumulated there. Perhaps enough to get off the confusing world. Hopefully. "So, I can have safe passage to Las Vegas on your bus?" Marluxia asked, somewhat cautiously. The girl nodded vigorously with a smile on her face.

"Okay! I'll go and see if we're ready to go yet then!" She skipped off, humming a small song under her breath. As soon as she entered the bus, a loud racket burst.

"So he isn't-"

"Phew, I thought for a second that-"

"I wonder how he could look so much like-"

"Where should he sit?"

"Not with me!"

"Ugh, I hate Square-Enix fanatics-"

"Nintendo all the way!"

"What's wrong with Sony?"

"How about here?"

A loud chorus of "Okay!" came from the bus. Marluxia raised an eyebrow as the small girl ran out of the bus.

"There's an empty place near the front of the bus where you can sit." she said, a grin on her face. Marluxia followed her onto the bus, inwardly disliking the whole idea.

Two empty seats were at the front, but that wasn't what Marluxia was staring at. Some of the people on the bus were small children with tired looking adults. The majority however were teenagers wearing different styles of clothing. Some wore really tacky looking clothes, trying vainly to look like something but failing miserably. Half of the people on the bus were using peculiar handheld devices. One that had a flip-up top with a small stylus and the other that was sleek and black with the words "PSP" on the backs.

"_**VERY** odd world._" Marluxia thought. He sat down in the seat by the window, and felt a cool breeze come from the air conditioning vent above his head. Slightly better than outside at least. A teenager, about fourteen years old, stared at the Graceful Assassin with a mixture of awe and cautiousness.

"Where'd you get that cloak?"

For a second, it didn't register in Marluxia's mind what the boy was asking. "It was given to me." He replied.

"Really? Cool." the teenager gasped, in a small form of awe. The girl that was sitting next to him slapped his head. "Oww!"

"You can stop staring at the guy's costume." she replied sharply and fiercely. She was reading a peculiar book with an elf-like person on the cover in a green tunic. "I still don't get your obsession with Square-Enix Chase. Final Fantasy was stupid, and their crossbreed with Disney wasn't exactly the best."

Again, Marluxia was truly perplexed at the girl's statement, but the boy, or Chase, looked extremely offended. Up in the very front, the driver shifted the bus into gear, in which the whole vehicle rumbled to life with a shudder. A bored voice came over the speakers.

"Remember the rules of the bus and all that. Our arrival into Las Vegas will be in two hours-"

"Two hours?" Marluxia murmured, astounded at the time frame. Stuck on a bus for that long?

"In which Mandalay Bay will be our final stop. Enjoy the desert scenery." With a click, the speakers turned off.

With a sigh, Marluxia looked out the window. The bus had pulled out of the station and onto the highway. Various cars sped by, all different colors and sizes.

Already halfway asleep, Marluxia just watched as the cars went by. He was barely paying attention to the two teenagers' argument.

"It doesn't suck!"

His eyelids drooped. It was a long day.

"Does too!"

Two hours sleep would be okay.

"I'm telling you! Kingdom Hearts doesn't suck!"

Before even considering Chase's retort, Marluxia fell asleep.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Something was poking him.

Marluxia growled, trying to brush away whatever was constantly poking his arm. It didn't desist but instead intensified. "Stop it." he muttered, still sleepy.

"Come on! We're here!" it was the same red-haired girl from earlier. Blearily, he opened his eyes.

It was at the brink of twilight outside. Orange light poured into the empty bus from outside. The girl skipped outside, motioning for him to follow. Marluxia sighed and got up from his seat, he was somewhat stiff but not by much. Some walking would fix it. He was yawning when he stepped off the bus.

In a second, he stopped.

A large city met the Graceful Assassin's eyes. Tall buildings with neon lights stuck out prominently, cars went on by, and large flying vehicles went overhead. Darkness oozed here, it was the whole basic block. Las Vegas had innumerable amounts of energy.

Finally, he was going to get off the world. Watching coolly as the girl skipped off he mentally felt around, collecting the surrounding darkness. Taking a deep breath, Marluxia suddenly motioned with his arm. The darkness seeped together, becoming tangible, and creating a perfect portal.

Something was different about the portal though. Perhaps the enhanced depth of the world made it seem slightly weirder, or not, Marluxia wasn't sure. One fact was that the simple portal was drawing all darkness in it, siphoning the energy like crazy. It wouldn't stay for long, that was a definite. Calmly, Marluxia walked straight for the swirling mass.

**THUD!**

Suddenly, something rammed into him, sending the Graceful Assassin crashing onto the asphalt. A jittery, almost relieved voice thick with a familiar accent came from where the portal was.

"Out of that Purgatory finally! Freedom! Another chance!"

In the brief moment, Marluxia noticed two things. One was the black cloaked man with short blonde hair, who was looking around in a mixture of awe and relief. Second, was that the carefully made portal suddenly shrunk away, finished with all the darkness that the city possessed.

A stream of curses erupted from Marluxia (to which the authoress cannot repeat) catching the attention of the other cloaked man.

"Number XI?" Luxord asked, sounding surprised. "So I'm not the only one out then! Excellent!"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** I know how long it took to be updated. And I apologize. I'm truly sorry.

Danny: Right...

Random Moogle: A month-

Me: Yes! Well! This could be the start of a mixture of Earth chapters with the occasional Drabble. Or not. I dunno.

Replies to Reviews:

Guavi: Thanks!

Scylla Desdemonia Ophelia: Thanks. I thought that the original six should be at least closer on terms at least. (however, caring is an emotion. NO emotions.)

EliasDaemonwing: Thank you!

Moonshine's Guide: Finally updated. I'm glad it inspired thoughts. I'm surprised with the quality myself.

Cazure: Wow. Umm, to be comapred with Thoughts of Zexion is awesome. I loved reading that story. And the fact I inspired something? Cool. Like, um, wow.

hanyou-samurai: Bittersweet is the best though! Innit?

Zyler: Thanks! I get that complement alot.

LKani-X: Yep. I'd say that's the best to describe that Drabble. I've decided that the contemplation will be infused with the Earth ones. Yup. Zexion is the evilest.

ckret2: I try to make him dignified in this. He needs it. Badly. Yes Disney characters exist, we cannot ignore that fact, and I glad you like my opinion on member with no emotions. It's logical! You should read the other ones and tell meh the opinions. And no, I have never heard of Duke TIP. I am my own person...I hope.

Aldalena: Again thank you. I get this complement alot too.

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**Sahxyel:** A small span of cross-country treks is in store for Marluxia over the course of the drabbles. The title is just a title. Yup.

Danny: (eating Mike and Ikes) Review if you liked this.

Me and Random Moogle: (eating chocolate chip cookies) Yep.


	6. The Roses Incident

**Sahxyel:** I've decided that this will explain two factors in one. How Marluxia came to having a war with Vexen and what the Roses Incident that I've mentioned was.

Danny: I can smell humor from here.

Me: Actually, this will be serious. Yeah, with a title like that, you thought it'd be funny? Heh, ya right.

**Disclaimer Guy:** Sahxyel doesn't own anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts. Celebrate! She probably would screw it up if she did!

**The Roses Incident**

_Numbers VIII and XIII,_

_I've noticed you have a 'problem' with the certain Numbers IX and XI. If you truly desire to get revenge, use this liquid provided in a...clearing attempt._

_An Observant._

Roxas blinked, rereading the note. "An Observant? Who would want to help _us_ get back at Marluxia and Demyx?"

"I don't know..." Axel replied, studying the liquid in the container that was with the note. It was clear, but smelled really strong, even if the lid was on. "But if it's something to help 'clear' our problems-"

"I don't think getting back at them will make anything stop." Roxas interrupted, a dry tone in his voice. Axel just looked at Number XIII with an incredulous stare, but Roxas remained firm. "You know that Marluxia doesn't lie down to us burning his garden every week."

Number VIII's cocky grin spread across his face, "Ah, but we haven't even tried his most precious plants yet!" He slowly turned the container around, inspecting the liquid again. "And what's more perfect then trying this?"

"I don't know about that Axel." Roxas took the container, swirling around the jar and watching the liquid go into a vortex. "Marluxia has this..._obsession_ with his roses. And I don't really want to lose my head over petty arson right now."

"But by the sounds of this note, someone else wants to get at Marluxia too." Axel quipped, grabbing the small note. The curvy writing seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't really place it. "Besides, Marluxia grows his plants back faster than we can burn then."

Roxas placed the jar back down, crossing his arms. Grinning, Axel whispered maliciously, "Plus, are you _really_ going to let them get away with busting our PS2 for a few burnt tiger lilies? Letting them win?"

The blonde stared indifferently at the clear solution, allowing a moment of silence. Finally, he blinked. "Fine Axel, you win."

"Great!" Axel picked the container up, smirking. "Now. When to do it...?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"A rare moment of peace and quiet." Marluxia sighed, looking around Proof of Existence. All twelve portals shimmered in a comforting blue glow and a calm silence filled the air. "Maybe I can finally get to finish my book."

Withdrawing from his cloak, he pulled out a small book. The front cover was slightly scorched, but the title was still visible. Marluxia had been trying to read the thing for over a month, but with assorted missions and revenge, the Graceful Assassin really never had the time.

Casually, he opened the book to the exact page he left off. Act III, the final act. Automatically walking, Marluxia scanned the page, enveloped in the ancient literature. The familiar tingling sensation of a portal tickled the Graceful Assassin's senses, but he was only mildly aware.

The warm atmosphere of his room was welcoming from the overall cold castle. Exotic plants with alluring scents and various other flora met Number XI, almost welcoming. Despite reading his book, Marluxia had a small smile on his face. So far, the PS2 busting quelled Axel and Roxas' vengeful nature. Maybe it would last for the next week too, which would be a welcome change from the arson that he discovered every week.

"MAR!"

Demyx ran inside the garden, huffing like he had just ran a marathon or something. Gripped in the Melodious Nocturne's hand was an envelope, curvy writing read '_Number XI_'. Marluxia couldn't help but roll his eyes. Never failed that something would come up and break his moment of tranquility. "What is it Demyx?" he asked dryly, closing the book.

"I think it's a new mission." Demyx gasped, passing the envelope to the Graceful Assassin. "It was in the 'Urgent' pile so..."

"Yes, yes. I know." Marluxia easily opened the envelope, withdrawing an order from the Superior. After a moment, he sighed. "Another scouting. This time to see if some _dogs_ on a world have strong enough hearts to 'join our cause'." With an annoyed look, Marluxia shoved the note back in the envelope. "I could just do that later."

"B-But it was in the _Urgent_ pile!" Demyx sputtered, taking the envelope back. "It _has_ to be important if it was there!"

"Well, why don't we just go ask Superior if it is." Marluxia retorted, tucking away his book. Not exactly what he wanted to do, but if it would make Demyx leave him alone for at least fifteen minutes he'd try anything. With Demyx trailing behind, the two walked out from the garden and into Proof of Existence.

"I think Xemnas would be at the Altar of Naught right now." Demyx said helpfully, turning towards the opening at the far side of the room. Marluxia followed the Melodious Nocturne up the small path in between the portals and right out of Proof of Existence.

Meanwhile, two figures in black stealthily snuck into the eleventh portal, chortling and holding a container with a sloshing liquid inside.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Blanching, Marluxia asked once more, his mind not fully comprehending what he was hearing. "You didn't put the order in the Urgent pile Superior?"

An annoyed tick appeared on Xemnas' face, "I'm quite sure Number XI, I did not place that order in the pile."

Without a second glance, Marluxia tore off, conjuring a portal and rushing into it. Demyx stood with Xemnas, who looked only slightly surprised.

"Number IX..." Xemnas started in a commanding tone. Demyx flinched, more on instinct and less on the voice.

"I think Marluxia just figured out something, so, umm, I think I should go, uh, too." Demyx replied shortly before also creating a portal and running through. The Organization's Superior blinked before turning around to stare at the small form of Kingdom Hearts, which hung innocently in an eternally darkened sky.

And although they were far off, dark and ominous clouds threatened the sky, challenging the authority of the small heart shaped moon.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Proof of Existence met Marluxia's eyes as he ran from the portal, but he was too focused on something to really even pay notice to anything. Taking a sharp turn to the left, Marluxia ran into his own room. "_Not the roses, not the roses, not the roses!_"

As soon as he entered, the biting smell of smoke caught Number XI's attention. He had already known that the two had probably burned something, but it better not have been-

Engulfed in the unforgiving touch of flame were Marluxia's prized rosebushes. Smoldering under the intensity of the fire.

"Mar! Mar! What did they-" Demyx stopped in mid-sentence and mid-step as soon as he spotted what was burning in the garden. "Uh, I'll just put it out..."

Marluxia stood there, face and more than possibly mind blank and devoid of any sign that someone was there.

Summoning his sitar, Demyx quickly played a few notes, conjuring massive rain droplets that were sent hurtling toward the plants.

In a fireball, the flames rose even higher when the water touched it. Demyx blinked in surprise before playing more notes. Marluxia still stood there in silence. No matter what Demyx did though, the fire raged onward, enveloping a few more plants and getting even bigger. The heat was almost unbearable for the Melodious Nocturne. After trying everything, from geysers to his own water clones, Demyx finally dismissed his weapon, taking a step backward. The fire was encircling the two, almost like it was going to-

With a roar, Marluxia raised his arm up, summoning his scythe. The silhouette of the weapon appeared from the flames, gripped tightly in the Graceful Assassin's hand. In a moment, a large portal appeared under both Numbers IX and XI, engulfing them before the fire rushed inward, engulfing the last of the garden.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"I'm going to kill them personally." Marluxia snarled, emerging from the portal, which was in the Hall of Empty Melodies. Demyx stood dazed for a moment before watching Marluxia storm away, sakura petals left in his wake.

"Yo! Number IX!" a familiar surfer-dude accent came from the balcony above. Demyx tilted his head upward to see Xigbar looking down. It wasn't hard to see that the Freeshooter was surprised. "What did the duo do to get Number XI like that?"

"I don't know!" Demyx called, shaking from his stupor. "But his whole garden was destroyed!"

"Didn't you put out the fire?"

Demyx shifted uncomfortably, "I couldn't! Every time I sent water to douse it, the fire just grew!"

Xigbar rubbed his chin, "That was probably an alcohol fire, water just makes those worse if you try to put them out." He paused. "I'll go see if Lexaeus will put it out then. YOU make sure Marluxia doesn't kill anyone!" With that, Xigbar disappeared in the misty tendrils of another portal.

"Alcohol fire?" Demyx mused, scratching his head. "Axel and Roxas couldn't have gotten _that_ much of it, where'd they get it then...?" Shaking his head, Demyx ran in the direction the Graceful Assassin was going. After all, Marluxia didn't have that title for nothing...

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Speaking of the duo, the two stood in front of Memory's Skyscraper. Axel was casually leaning against a pillar while Roxas paced back and forth. "He's going to kill us this time, I just know it!"

"Stop freaking out," Axel started, lazily calling a chakram into his right hand. "Even if he wants to kill us, I doubt he'll even get that close." A confident smirk appeared on the Flurry's face as he tossed the chakram up and down in the air, allowing it to spurt flames.

A loud rumble came from the East, causing both Roxas and Axel to immediately freeze. Both glanced at one another, seemingly asking whether that was something to worry about. Without a word, the second chakram and both the Oblivion and Oathkeeper Keyblades appeared in their owners hands. The wind suddenly picked up, sweeping something down an alley and into the plaza.

Hundreds of sakura petals blew into the vicinity of Memory's Skyscraper, dancing elegantly on the breeze in loops and flips. Almost as sudden as the wind picked up, it died down, leaving the numerous petals lying on the cobbled street.

Cool demeanor vanishing instantly, Axel looked to the alley. Someone was coming, walking slowly and purposefully, making their footsteps echo in the silence.

Roxas took a step backward, lowing his Keyblades a little. The Key of Destiny paled as the petals themselves seemed to vibrate whenever the footsteps sounded.

And they were getting closer too.

With a sweeping motion, Axel tossed his two chakrams toward the surging petals. The two weapons clashed into the ground, sparking and setting the petals into a blazing inferno. A wall of fire stood between the alley and Memory's Skyscraper.

"Time to leave!"

Roxas flipped around, arm outstretched to conjure a portal. Instead of one appearing however, the opposing alley suddenly shined brilliantly. Hexagonal tiles appeared, blocking out both portal conjuring and also any possible means of escape.

"Umm, Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"How long will that firewall stay up?"

"Not long."

"..."

"..."

The flames that blocked the other alley slowly started to diminish, revealing someone standing directly behind it. The scythe reflected the burning light, shining with vengeance. Gazing coldly at the two was the Graceful Assassin, waiting for the shrinking fire to give out.

After a moment, the fire vanished, leaving the way open. The sakura petals in the plaza shivered excitedly as Marluxia walked inside, a shiny hexagonal barrier appeared behind him, shutting off the last escape possibility.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Not good, not good, not good!" Demyx repeated, finally reaching the outer limits of the Castle that Never Was. A shiny green aura was off to the right, along with a hologram diamond with a convenient Moogle who usually sold the defense items to the Organization for hefty prices. Shaking his head, Demyx tried to exactly pinpoint where Numbers VIII, XI, and XIII were.

Into the darkened alley, Demyx noticed vines that were growing rapidly along the concrete walls, coming from around the corner where Memory's Skyscraper was. Sakura petals littered the ground, moving ever so lightly when the Melodious Nocturne stepped pass. A loud 'clink!' of metal sounded from ahead, echoing in the alley.

"_Alright! I just need to stop Marluxia from killing Axel and Roxas for burning his whole garden to...the ground...This isn't going to be easy."_ Demyx thought, weary already from the concept of what he was going up against. "_Why'd **I** have to go and do this?"_ Slowly, he approached the corner that lead into the plaza for Memory's Skyscraper. Knotted vines with razor sharp spikes entangled the skyscraper, delicate pink blooms coming from some of the vine. A steady glow already told Demyx that Marluxia had set up a barrier. "Great."

The area in front of Memory's Skyscraper was strewn with sakura petals and various tall and spiky vines that had burst from the pavement, leaving long and ugly cracks. The vines twisted freely in the air, dancing under the enormous rain cloud that had drifted above. Demyx immediately spotted Roxas, running around the vines and hacking them with his two Keyblades. The vines seemed to protest to the assault, sweeping downward and smashing into the Key of Destiny with a mottled '**WHAP!**'. Behind a particularly dense growth of vines, the Melodious Nocturne could see a wisp of flame emerge, before being ultimately extinguished by a larger vine.

There was no way that Demyx could possibly get inside the arena. Once a barrier was established, all escape or help was cut off until the one who created the field would lower the spell. Unfortunately, by judging the vines and actions of the plants, Marluxia wasn't going to let the barriers down anytime soon.

Above, the rain cloud finally had enough, letting loose a torrent of rain down. The vines seemed to be calmed by the rain, swaying back in forth in a rhythm.

"Wait a second!" Demyx stared thoughtfully at the cloud as it continued to rain overhead. The droplets were large and fat, hitting the pavement and vines with loud spurts. Maybe, just maybe, he could manipulate the water from outside the arena!

And Vexen said he was dumb, heh, yeah right!

In a moment, the large sitar appeared in the Melodious Nocturne's hand. He grinned, maybe it would work, it could have, and it was possible...

Quickly, Demyx plucked the sitar, allowing a loud and soothing tone to escape from the instrument. Although he was playing the sitar, Demyx's eyes were focused on a small puddle on the other side of the barrier. "Come on..."

Slowly, the puddle started to shiver, rising into the air and becoming long and slender, taking the shape of a snake. The water formed snake shuddered to the music before falling to the ground with a loud 'splash!'. A few notes rectified the mistake, reforming the snake. It raised its aqueous head, before heading towards the large clump of vines, collecting more water as it slid across the ground. By the time it slithered by the unconscious form of Roxas, it was as thick as a sewer pipe and as long as three meters.

The snake easily slid through the opening of the vine, entering the unseeable battlefield. Above, the cloud let out a loud rumble, unleashing fatter droplets of rain. Demyx fully concentrated on his sitar, playing each note with a quick, but final, precision. All the water that ended up out of the cloud danced to the clump of vines to where the water serpent was. With one harsh note, all the droplets zoomed inside, about the same time the snake coiled around something.

"Just like fishing..." Demyx muttered, the tune grew more fast paced as the snake started to make its way back out of the vines, something locked within its coils. About the same time however, the vines started to shrink away, retreating to the interior of the ground. The larger vines pulsed, almost like a sigh, before also shrinking away. Even in the artificial light, Demyx could spot a mass of red tightly held inside the coils of the snake. Completely stopping the music entirely, Demyx watched as the snake slowly started to shiver, before dissolving into a massive puddle. Axel lied in the middle of said puddle, soaked and unconscious.

But not dead. Which was a plus at least.

As the vines all disappeared, the figure of Marluxia stood in the middle of where the large clump was, staring at the two unconscious forms that lied on the ground. His scythe still glittered in the lights of Memory's Skyscraper, a demonic symbol of death.

And with a sudden motion, the hexagonal barriers disappeared. Demyx watched silently as Marluxia walked pass, looking distant but determined about something. He gripped a piece of paper in his empty hand, curvy writing was prominent, but smeared due to the rain.

The echo of footsteps slowly diminished, leaving Demyx standing alone with the two unconscious members of the Organization. A sputter came from the large puddle, making Demyx roll his eyes. Yep, they were still alive all right.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

_Several Weeks later..._

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Only in the early morning did Marluxia seem the most awake, especially when he had his coffee and whatever pastry was left in the cabinet. Demyx was watching the clock eagerly with unmasked anticipation. Marluxia wondered for the nonexistent life of him why Xemnas said the Melodious Nocturne could play in the early eves of the day. Supposedly, it was to wake everyone up...well, except the Superior himself. His room was too far away from the kitchen to really get affected.

Open was his book, almost complete. The words of treachery and suicide were interesting to read, say the least.

"Hey Mar! When are we going to get Axel and Roxas back for the roses incident?"

Although he had almost, mind almost, killed the two, finding out the alcohol fire wasn't their fault was...upsetting. Personally, that night, he would have decapitated the two. But that note had made the Graceful Assassin rethink his revenge, and who actually WAS fully responsible.

Ugh, and Demyx was using that obnoxious nickname again.

"How many times have I told you to stop calling me 'Mar'?" he asked quietly, vaguely aware of the twitch in his eye. It was sort of an unconscious twitch he did anyway.

Demyx looked thoughtful, "Fifty?" he tried. Marluxia already knew that nickname would stick, unfortunately. He sighed despondently, unintentionally making Demyx grin. "Well, would you prefer 'Marly' instead?"

The only other nickname that was more demeaning than 'Mar'. Disgusting. "Good point."

"So how are you going to get back at them?" Demyx asked, genuinely interested. When it came to payback against the two though, Number IX was ALWAYS interested. Figured, since he would never get away with something like that.

Marluxia shrugged, looking detached. "I already did." Although trying to kill the two was partial punishment, the other sad prank was still called for. They _did _torch his garden, whether it was their fault or not.

"How did you-?" Demyx started, but fortunately didn't finish. At the same moment, Axel appeared inside the kitchen, looking incredibly irked. His normal spiky hair was sopping wet and was wilting down due to the physics that were re-instated in his hair. Looked like the thick oil worked in place of Axel's normal hair gel. What seemed better was that he _tried_ to wash it out. Heh, classic.

Roxas appeared a second later, filling the kitchen with the lovely aroma of a flower. Rose, if one were to be technical. The Key of Destiny also was mildly annoyed too, a look of vengeance in his blue eyes.

Deciding it was the best time, Marluxia set down his book. He smirked, "Axel, Roxas, how are you this FINE morning?"

"Can it." Axel growled, looking as though he wanted to torch the smirk right off of Number XI's face. Roxas was also glaring angrily, although there was nothing to really back the look. Demyx looked like he was going to laugh to spite the two.

Marluxia knew that Axel would have normally retaliated harshly, but given the severity of the incident prior, he only glared.

Almost as amusing, Zexion walked right into the room, stopping as he noticed the four. "I don't want to know." he muttered, before turning around and walking back out.

They all glared at one another a second longer before both walked out of the kitchen, muttering belligerently in defeat.

Now all that was left was how to figure out Vexen's punishment. It would be considerably harder to get back at the Chilly Academic than either Numbers VIII or XIII obviously. Maybe, he would just wait until the time was right...

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** And there is the Roses Incident! Don't worry all, Marluxia DID get back at Number IV, but it happened MONTHS later. Remember, Revenge is a dish best served cold! (coughs and points to Movie Night)

Danny: Updated at a decent time at least.

Random Moogle: Uh-huh!

Replies to Reviews for Right from Nowhere:

EliasDaemonwing: Thank you for your support! And yeah, it'll be continued...probably.

Zyler: Everyone seemed to enjoy the concept of Luxord in Vegas apparently. I don't blame them, it tickled my fancy when I typed it.

Moonshine's Guide: Oh yes, I've known about that for a WHILE now. I have Goosebumps at the thought and stuff. Also, the CoM manga helped fuel this drabble. Quite a bit, I must say! Yay for candy!

Everyone else: Umm...yay?

Aldalena: Yup. It is! Which makes me think that I should rename this whole thing...again. Probably. Yes, I agree, I hate her too, but she is made to be hated. Also, umm, she was reading a walkthrough for the Legend of Zelda unfortunately. I was trying to describe Link...not very good though. --;

Minnet: Yeeaahh, it was supposed to be that way, a nice combo between silliness and seriousness. The perfect combo!

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** Yup. There we go, and it ties in with everything else too!

Danny: Right. So review...and stuff.

Random Moogle: Don't forget! Kupo!


	7. Right from Nowhere: Convention

**Sahxyel:** Here is another installment to the mini-story nestled inside this Marluxia centered story fest.

Danny: All the Marluxia you could ever want. Or need apparently.

Random Moogle: Just enjoy the entry peeps!

**Disclaimer Guy:** Sahxyel doesn't own this idea. She doesn't own the characters. So don't start something, please.

**Right from Nowhere: Convention**

A loud roar erupted overhead; signaling that another large aircraft had just taken off from some port not too far away from wherever the two Nobodies were. The sky had already shifted from a beautiful orange to a light colored purple, barely washing out the moon which was scarcely visible in the sky. Neon lights flickered annoyingly, hoping to catch the eyes of passer-bys and apparently doing a good job at that.

And all the meanwhile, Marluxia just stared at the ground, wondering how he was going to get off the world. To a lesser extent, he also pondered why Luxord had emerged from a portal to darkness, but not much.

Luxord, for the time being, was clearly taking in his surroundings, relieved from being trapped in eternal darkness for far too long to be on a new and fantastic world. Casually, he summoned his standard 52-card deck, admiring each card in the new depth that they were in.

A great clamor came from the far end of the parking lot, where a large group of people emerged from the building. Some went straight for the various colored and sized cars, while most headed for the buses that were scattered here and there.

"Hey, why didn't you come inside?" Marluxia sighed at the voice of the young red haired girl. She had reached the bus first, and was studying him with large and curious eyes. "And who's that?"

The Gambler of Fate merely acknowledged the girl's presence before returning to shifting through his deck of cards. "He's an associate of mine." Marluxia replied. He looked at the girl apathetically, while wondering how he could possibly find another city that harvested such large amounts of darkness.

"Oh." She sounded downtrodden, eyes on the asphalt. She clutched a pass in her hand, also reading 'Annual Gamer Convention 2007'. Other people who also rode the bus slowly got aboard, excitedly conversing about what happened inside the establishment. Some gave wary glances at Luxord, who disregarded everyone around him. "Aren't you going to the Convention this year?"

"..." Marluxia thought quickly on how to respond now. He supposed that at this 'Convention' he could possible learn more about the world he was on, and also pick up a few terms and maybe even a little munny if he had the chance. If worse came to worse, then his powers would sufficiently demolish the establishment quickly anyway. "Yes?"

Luxord looked up at this remark, "What?"

Again, the girl's face broke into a grin. "Cool! Me and my mom got too many passes earlier, maybe you guys can take 'em!" She chirruped. With that, the girl hummed a little tune before skipping around the bus.

"Out of curiosity Marluxia, what did you mean by that when you said 'yes'?" Luxord questioned, finally satisfied with how his card deck was in numbers, now shuffling them accordingly. Marluxia only narrowed his eyes, before looking back to the large building that held the conference.

"This world is unlike the others Luxord." He said quietly, "Darkness corridors cannot be easily accessed, depth is incredible by all means, and the world itself it gigantic. Obviously, we aren't going anywhere with no access to a portal. Not without ample darkness in our surroundings-"

"But this town is FULL of darkness! Can't you sense it?" Luxord noted impatiently, "Why not create another portal?"

Marluxia took a deep breath, "Because all of the tangible darkness is used up. The darkness YOU sense is the ethereal kind!"

Luxord rolled his eyes before making a grand sweeping gesture with his arm. Nothing happened.

"Does that convince you?" Marluxia asked sarcastically. Luxord only scowled, shuffling his cards in a much more rapid succession.

"You two must be serious about your fandom huh?"

"What?" Luxord looked to where another girl appeared, with a boy in tow, who was gazing admiringly at the two Nobodies. She was scowling deeply, holding a bag that read: Twilight Princess with three peculiar triangles stacked into a pyramid on it. The boy, on the other hand, was carrying a pamphlet with the words, 'Square-Enix' on it.

Marluxia quickly recognized them. The two teenagers who were sitting in the row next to his. Chase, and that odd, spiteful girl.

"Fandom?" Luxord repeated in a confused tone. He glanced at Marluxia, who only gave the shadow of a shrug.

"Yeah, fandom. You know, a realm of fiction in which you devote dearly to?" the girl said scornfully. Luxord actually seemed startled that a young teenager even spat something like that to him. Marluxia found it to be incredibly brave, Luxord didn't take kindly to offensive people, not by a long shot. "And besides, I'm sure that Square-Enix has your game in their ranks of a 'fandom'." She rolled her eyes disgustedly. "That and Final Fantasy VII. The most overused title in the entire series!"

Chase looked like he got slapped in the face. "It is not!" He snapped heatedly. "And Square-Enix doesn't just pump out stinkers! I SAW you eyeing Final Fantasy XII!"

"..." Marluxia probably couldn't have been more lost, and judging Luxord's expression, he couldn't have either.

"Oh yeah! And I suppose you fawning over all that info for ReChain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix isn't better from what I look at?!"

"What?!" The Graceful Assassin stared unbelievably at the two teenagers, who looked back in surprise. "_How do THEY know about Kingdom Hearts?! Better yet, why did that even come up in the conversation?_"

"You guys don't know?" Chase asked. The teen handed Luxord the pamphlet with the words Square-Enix printed on the front, looking at the two cautiously. "I thought fans like you two would know, guess not."

Luxord slowly opened the pamphlet, a bored look on his face. However, the look gradually progressed into a stunned look, the Gambler of Fate turning sheet white. Without a word, he handed it to Marluxia.

Inside the packet were various panels of information, varying from some remakes of games called Final Fantasy, new games named 'Dirge of Cerberus' and 'Final Fantasy XII'. And finally...the Kingdom Hearts series?

What was the most shocking to Marluxia were the pictures in which the pamphlet showed. They were stunningly like his own world's traditional look, and even odder, that the pictures were of the _Keybearer_. Large words, printed under the 'Up and Coming' label were 'ReChain of Memories' and Final Mix Plus'. Slowly, Marluxia read the passage on one game, entitled Chain of Memories.

_Different game play is only the beginning of this middle game of the Kingdom Hearts Series. Unlike Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2, this game is strictly for Gameboy Advance and any later handheld generation from Nintendo. Although it is not required for a gamer to obtain Chain of Memories, the game will greatly help the understanding of Kingdom Hearts 2..._

Game play? It sounded as if the entire events of Sora the Keybearer had been watched and recorded on the peculiar world, but game play? Was that referencing to video games? Marluxia thought back to the really old days in the Organization, when Axel and Roxas would hole themselves up in the entertainment room and play on their PS2 all day. Of course, they played stuff like Grand Theft Auto and Sims. THIS sounded like an interactive environment dedicated to the Keybearer.

"What's wrong with him?" Chase asked, looking at Luxord who was still extremely pale. "Is he okay?"

"Since when has this world started chronicling this?" Marluxia questioned, folding the pamphlet and handing it back to Chase. "Judging by your technology, it is surprising that even a word had gotten out here about Kingdom Hearts."

The girl stared at Marluxia before forcefully grabbing Chase's arm, hissing loudly. "Told ya they're loons. Now come on!" She started to tug him away, who only looked incredibly confused.

POOF!

Suddenly, the girl vanished in a plume of white smoke, leaving Chase standing alone by the two Nobodies. The boy grew instantly fearful, "Scylla!" he cried, looking around in shock. Everyone on the bus nearby suddenly silenced, fearful eyes on a single card that lied on the asphalt ground.

Marluxia threw a scornful glance at Luxord, who was frowning haughtily at the spot where the card lied. "She should learn to keep her mouth shut." The Gambler of Fate muttered, watching as Chase picked up the card, his hand shaking mightily.

"W-wait. So that means..." Chase glanced up at Luxord and Marluxia again, his eyes showing an abundance of fear and shock. "A-are you two actually...?"

For the time being, Marluxia glared at Luxord once again. "Great Number X, now we'll NEVER be able to walk around without someone staring at us like that."

"Humph." Luxord started to shuffle his cards again. "I'd rather have these people under some spell of fear than for them to scornfully mock us Number XI."

There was a gigantic silence, the people on the bus staring out at the two, before looking back at the card that Chase was holding. It seemed the boy was shaking alot now, almost rooted to the spot. He was continually muttering under his breath, "This is impossible, they can't-they're not real-"

About the seventh time Chase repeated what he was saying, Marluxia rolled his eyes, "And I suppose you telling yourself that will make it true?"

A voice erupted from the bus, "So they really ARE Luxord and Marluxia?!"

In a flash, a plume of smoke came from the window a second later. Again, Luxord was frowning. "Shout it to the entire world why don't you?"

Marluxia considered what kind of thoughts could have possibly been running through the spectators heads. With everything about the Keybearer kept on a simple disc (Well, it WAS a game) he wouldn't be surprised if something concerning the Organization was with it. He was fairly sure that one of the games had him on it, since he had personally met and fought Sora.

"ROBIN! GET BACK IN HERE!" A terrified voice screeched, Marluxia turned his head slightly to see the small girl with the red hair jumping out of the bus, her eyes were wide, but with...admiration?

Luxord glanced at the girl, almost considering on turning her into a card...or maybe a die. However, a stern glare from Marluxia made the Gambler of Fate pause from his devious thoughts. It really didn't matter if he WAS Number X, Marluxia was a stronger fighter, and therefore, the undisputed leader...for now anyway.

Robin looked at Marluxia curiously, cocking her head sideways and making some red hair fall off her shoulder. Bravely, she approached the two, ignoring the worried whispers coming from the bus. Her green eyes probed both Nobodies, gazing innocently.

A loud thump came from next to the two, making some of the passengers of the bus gasp in fear. Chase had apparently passed out, still clutching the card tightly, and landing quite hard on the asphalt. Luxord leaned over slightly to see if the kid was breathing at least, but Marluxia paid no attention, still under the gaze of the little girl.

"You two don't seem that bad." She said in her small voice. Marluxia was surprised for a moment at what the little girl had uttered, Luxord on the other hand looked like he would have enjoyed proving her wrong in a mere instant. "They make you sound like real bad guys."

"Bad guys?" Luxord scoffed, eyeing the bus where the people stared back in fear. "Humph."

"I'd agree with whoever 'they' are." a faint voice murmured. Chase was again awake, lying on the ground, but not even daring to move.

Marluxia glanced at the youth, before having an idea come to him. With an eerie smile, he slowly walked over to where Chase lied. The teenager immediately turned sheet-white again, paler than a generic color. "_I **could** get used to this._" He thought amusedly. "Why's that?" Marluxia asked calmly.

"B-because!" Chase yelped, before abruptly shutting his mouth. Marluxia stared at him for a second longer before looking back to Luxord. The Gambler of Fate frowned at Chase, apparently not satisfied with the answer.

"Despite your _advanced_ vocabulary, the argument doesn't seem that strong." Marluxia noted in a reminding tone. "How about another reason?"

"YOU TURNED TWO PEOPLE INTO CARDS!" A voice on the bus screeched. With a snap of Luxord's fingers, another plume of smoke wafted from another window.

"Make that three." Luxord said dryly, "Who wants to be next?"

A beep from the street and a rush from an overhead aircraft answered, but nothing came from the group of people who gazed fearfully at the two.

"Mostly, I think it's 'cause you guys are always called 'the bad guys'." The same small voice replied quietly. Marluxia was mildly surprised, since he had temporarily forgotten the small girl was still within three feet of them. "The games always show all of you as meanies, but I don't think that's how all of you are."

"Oh come on!" Chase finally found his voice again, but was still completely sheet-white. "Both of them are in Organization XIII, and their goal is to control Kingdom Hearts by harvesting more hearts, which is by turning people into heartless!" The teen glared at both Nobodies before continuing, "And one of them is a _traitor_ and the final boss of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories! He'd kill ALL of us right now!"

Now Marluxia didn't catch much of what Chase had rambled about, but he could easily construe that his second statement was referring directly to himself. Coolly, he muttered, "But I haven't, have I?"

"Yeah!" The small girl chirped, she turned to the bus, where half of the people looked out horrified while the other half looked out curiously. It was easy to tell that some had not readily played Kingdom Hearts, but nonetheless they were still too afraid to leave the bus. Guys who did supernatural things are still unnerving, no matter what.

Again, the two Nobodies noticed that people were heading back into the large building. Confusion was apparent before Chase managed to talk weakly. "It's time to go back in I think." Still, no one moved from the bus, all eyes on the two beings.

"Oh, here're your tickets." The girl smiled, handing the two black tickets to the puzzled Nobodies. Luxord took his, studying it critically. Marluxia also gazed at it with some minor interest. It read the same logo as what a majority of the merchandise the people wore, along with a small insignia of some sort on the corner.

Shrugging, Luxord walked off first, snapping his fingers before disappearing in the sea of vehicles. Three plumes of smoke erupted from the cards, before floating away and revealing three dazed people. The scornful girl, or Scylla, gazed at Marluxia with distaste but with certain fear too.

"You don't think that other video game characters will show up soon?" She murmured to Chase. He only shrugged.

Annoyed, Marluxia walked in the direction Luxord was going, but still could hear the conversation Scylla and Chase were having.

"That guy with the cards is scary I'll admit, but WHY were you freaking out when the pink haired guy talked to you? He looks like a pansy!"

Marluxia's eye gave a definite twitch.

"Shh! What if he still can hear us?!"

"So? If he wants to he can, I'm not going to stop the fag-" Five...four..."I mean, god, he looks GIRLY. What kind of villain that looks like that make you so afraid?!" Three, two... "And you said that he controls **_FLOWERS_**? That has to be the sissiest and gayest power...of course it matches him...or is he a girl? I can't tell really-"

Instantly, Marluxia's tolerance was shattered into a million pieces. Snarling, he spun around, scythe appearing, and tossed it with terrifying accuracy.

The blade whizzed a centimeter past the girl before embedding itself in the asphalt. The handle to the scythe shined brilliantly in the sunset, making everyone gasp. The two were frozen completely in terror. Slowly, Marluxia went back, grabbing the handle and yanking it deftly from the paved ground. His glare would have probably rivaled Saix's on his worst days. "Do. Not. Question. My. Masculinity." His glare intensified. "Understood?"

Scylla passed out, Chase only nodded meekly. Shouldering his weapon, Marluxia left the bus area, still minimally irked.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

It wasn't hard to find Luxord inside the convention building, he was being surrounded by a bunch of people, most who were groaning sadly and forking over stuff to him. Rolling his eyes, Marluxia made his way into the crowd to discover that Luxord was doing a simple card game, a winning a good amount of various objects.

Some was food, but most of it were stuff like those game devices that were handheld, and a modest sized pile of green slips of paper-like material were stacked beside Luxord's trusty card deck. "Ah, so you've made it!" Luxord said grandly, "Care for a game?"

"No." Marluxia's stern glare became present again, "What are you doing?"

"Getting us financially set here." The Gambler of Fate grabbed the pile of green slips, counting through them quickly. "Munny isn't their currency, instead it's money. With an O. Dollars, quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies. Interesting, isn't it?"

Some people in the crowd gave Luxord a strange look before walking off to examine some of the booths that were set up all around. Others gave Marluxia a wary look, since he still had his scythe resting on his shoulder, before also shambling off.

"No."

Luxord only sighed, counting through the bills carefully. "I'd say we have about...sixty dollars here, two of the peculiar handheld devices-" He pointed to two small rectangular devices, one black and the other pink, "and enough of these 'chips' to get us through a day at least." With that being said, Luxord picked up a bag, opening it.

"Have you found out anything _important_?" Marluxia questioned, emphasizing 'important'. Luxord only shook his head in a 'no' before starting to munch on the snack he opened. With an annoyed sigh, Marluxia motioned for Luxord to follow him, both heading deep into the building.

Various booths ranging from 'Ubi-Soft' to 'Nintendo' that had a good amount of people crowded around the two Nobodies had yet to discover any useful information about the world they were on. Most people gave curious stares at them, eyes traveling over their slightly eccentric appearances and the enormous scythe Marluxia still had refused to abandon. The people in the check area tried to make him to part with it, but with a little _convincing _they left him alone.

They voyaged deeper into the building, passing by even stranger people that were dressed in the same tacky fashion as the other people on the bus earlier. Many of the people were around their late teens and maybe even in early twenties, which made Marluxia wonder why anyone at a mature age would dress so stupidly.

"Whoa! Awesome! Look guys!" A squeal came from somewhere behind, a _feminine_ squeal. Frowning and glancing at Luxord, who looked back at him curiously, before both turned around.

A HUGE group of girls, around 16-ish, all goggled at the two with wide eyes. For some reason, Marluxia had the urge to get as far away as possible, sensing impending doom for a reason. One of the girls piped up in a high voice, "We LOVE your costumes! You two look almost EXACTLY like Luxord and Marluxia!" A bunch of giggles erupted from the girls in the group. "Are you supporting the Lux/Mar pairing?"

"The...what?" Marluxia asked slowly, not catching on at what the girl was saying. Luxord only frowned, also getting the tingle of something bad on the horizon. The group of girls only giggled louder, three of them even snickering and turning slightly red.

"That's okay, you don't need to tell us." The girl said with a wink. Again, not for the final time, Marluxia was confused. Luxord stayed silent, his inner voice urging him to not speak at all. "See you guys later!" With an eruption of giggles, the girls left.

Luxord blinked, completely bewildered as to what had happened. "What was that?"

The Graceful Assassin only shook his head, "For some reason, I REALLY don't want to know."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Sitting on a bench, completely lost, befuddled, and tired, the two Nobodies boredly looked on as people visited booths adjacent to them. It had been hours since they entered, and so far the convention center was still bustling and as busy as ever.

"I hate this place." Luxord grumbled, shuffling his cards slowly and watching as yet another group pointed at them and giggled loudly before leaving. "No help whatsoever. Every person we ask about this planet, can't even give a straight enough answer."

Marluxia was listening halfway, studying a map he had acquired from one helpful kid. It was a map of the city of Las Vegas, labeling the large buildings as hotels, the huge building complex with the flying vehicles as the 'Las Vegas Airport' and a surrounding city, and even beyond that, miles of desert. Airport...was that some sort of transportation place? Musing on this, he stared at the map hard, until a soft voice broke his chain of thought.

"Hello again."

Putting the map down, Marluxia saw the same small girl from earlier, her green eyes staring at him curiously. Luxord looked completely surprised, before growling, "Leave us alone kid."

Robin looked down, apparently putout. "Okay, I just wanted to see if I could help." She sighed in a small voice. THAT made something click 'on' in Marluxia's head.

"You wish to assist us?"

She nodded, still looking at the floor.

"Can you tell me what the 'airport' is for?"

The girl looked up, "The airport takes people to big cities around the nation. Like New York, or Los Angeles, Chicago..." She drifted off, "Why?"

Marluxia only shrugged, looking back to his map. "No reason."

"Now, leave us alone." Luxord sniffed, looking at the girl haughtily. She bowed her head before shuffling off. It was silent before Marluxia stood up, folding the map up and tucking it away. "We're leaving."

"Now?" Luxord asked wearily, looking around. "Fine. Where's the exit?"

"..."

"Don't tell me. We're never going to get out of here are we?"

"...Possibly."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"FINALLY!" Luxord burst out through the front doors, rushing out into the dark night, which was illuminated by the various buildings neon signs. Marluxia sighed in relief, looking up at the star-less sky to see another 'airplane' fly overhead.

They NEEDED to get on one of those. But in order for that, apparently they needed a large sum of money. As Luxord enjoyed the fresh smoggy air, Marluxia wondered how the heck he would be able to get money in the large city.

As if by magic, a small pamphlet fluttered in the air, being quickly snatched by the Gambler of Fate. The Nobody studied the pamphlet, before smirking. "Number XI, I believe I found a solution to our financial problem." He tossed the pamphlet over to Marluxia, who studied it. On the title, it said: "_The Great Casinos of the Las Vegas Strip_". A picture was on the cover, reading 'Horseshoe' for some odd reason. But THIS was perfect.

Walking out to the street, the two stood on the sidewalk, trying to hail a 'taxi'. Soon, one of the cabs had pulled over, allowing the two inside.

"To the nearest casino, my good man!" Luxord declared with great zeal, making Marluxia roll his eyes. The cab driver said nothing, but pulled away and onto the road, flipping the car around, and heading into the great city of lights. It went fairly fast, going down the streets with great ease, despite the insane traffic conditions. Soon, the driver made it to the large building named, "The Mandalay Bay".

"That comes to..." The driver started, but Luxord was too entranced to listen. He forked over a twenty from his winnings at the convention and stepped outside. Marluxia frowned, but followed out.

The driver was bewildered for a second, staring at the twenty. Then, with a shrug, he pulled away, glad he got such an added cash bonus for picking up the two weirdoes.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** A serious late update. I'm a bad person. But I updated didn't I?

Danny: I guess...

Random Moogle: Yeah.

Replies to Reviews:

LKaniX: Thank you! And yes, he can scare people when he's mad. Go figure eh?

Sharingan Kitsune: Heh, I need to be more descriptive then. And apparently Marluxia actually beating their arses for doing that to his garden went over well...Huh.

Moonshine's Guide: Yeah, and the next one will possibly confuse you more, since Vexen and Marluxia make the perfect enimies for one another...

Minnet: I try breaking previous barriers on characterization. I believe Demyx is smarter than he lets on in KH2, just as I believe that Marluxia doesn't act flamingly gay...well, not until I see how he is in ReChain that is.

**Lady Keyblade:** Exactly. Might be a topic on my next chappie...

hanyou-samurai: Thanks!

kittylover1890: Thank you! And, I think he's a little irked with me now. That scythe embedded in my door COULD mean something, but I can't place it. ;)

---

**Me:** I AM NOT DEAD! I LIVE! AND WRITE AGAIN! REVIEW! PLEASE!

Danny: She'll stop yelling if ya do!

Random Moogle: Kupo! Ow! My cute fuzzy ears!


	8. Neophyte

**Sahxyel:** Tis the break between the RFN arc! Which means another tidbit of Marluxia's life is revealed! Hmm, it's odd, but I think all of my entries will actually be connected. What would that make this then? Cause honestly, I don't know.

Danny: An anthology?

Random Moogle: Bits and Pieces?

Me: ...You know, that title doesn't sound so bad actually. Peeps reading this, answer meh plea to find the best title for this because frankly I have nothing! Winner will get the honor of picking the Organization XIII member that will show up next in the RFN plot!

**Disclaimer Guy:** A contest? Ugh. Whatever. Sahxyel only owns her faith that Marluxia is NOT flamingly gay and whatever ideas that sprout from her odd creations.

**Neophyte**

Being somewhat new to the castle, Marluxia had a difficult time trying to make his way through the enormous and blindingly white halls and corridors, usually to try and discover where certain rooms were located. Already, he had gotten lost for three days, missed two meetings, and managed to disgruntle a large amount of snoozing Assassin Nobodies.

Basically, being the new guy sucked.

Demyx was helpful...when he could remember certain 'trivialities' that wouldn't make itself present like not walking through specific halls that were home to Lancer and Berserker Nobodies, or better yet, avoiding the 'higher up's' that weren't Xigbar, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, or Luxord.

It didn't take very long for Marluxia to figure THAT out, especially after interrupting Xaldin while he was enjoying a cup of coffee. There was some bond with Number III and coffee, and when the bond was broken, Marluxia found himself suspended in the air by six lances, and dropped three stories down for good measure.

Higher Up's were _really_ high strung.

"It's just a bit of new member hazing." Demyx reassured after discovering the Graceful Assassin three floors below where he had annoyed Xaldin. "They usually get over it when another new member's recruited."

"And how long did YOU wait for Luxord to happen along?" Marluxia groaned, relatively sure his entire being would shatter into a million pieces. The Melodious Nocturne only gave a short laugh before helping him up.

"About two years. Why?"

Marluxia sighed, brushing off his cloak and trying to regain a dignified posture. HOPEFULLY, the Higher Up's wouldn't take THAT away at least. Then again, he supposed his appearance would be more intimidating if his hair just wasn't such a ridiculous shade. He wondered if his hair had always been pinkish-brown, but the memory of his 'Other' self was quite fuzzy.

Instead of stewing particularly on the subject, the Graceful Assassin soon discovered that more important problems should have been assessed. Particularly the problem of the majority of the Organization and their pet names they had coined for him. Most common were the terms: Flower Boy, Flower Power, Pinkie, Mr. Flower Petals (after his magic had fully kicked in at the third week) and an assortment of very demeaning nicknames.

"Hey Pinkie!" Xigbar chuckled as Marluxia passed the Freeshooter's room, "Heard ya got dropped by Xaldin, wish I saw it!"

"Just ignore them." Demyx said, rolling his eyes. "Soon they'll give up on the names."

"Mm." Marluxia muttered, his mind already thinking of ways to cut Number II into small pieces. Xigbar only chortled before re-entering his room, slamming the door to drown out the escalating sarcastic laughter.

Many other Higher Up's also had their own opinions of the Graceful Assassin, mostly being that he was probably as strong as blade of grass. None had ever really SEEN Marluxia fight in battle, nor had Xemnas approved of any training sessions with Number IX, building up mild curiosity of the new member within the Organization.

Naturally, Axel often talked about challenging Marluxia to a training bout but always seemed to not get around to doing so for some odd reason. Luxord and Saix were both indifferent to Marluxia, and Demyx was only 'chummy' and too amiable to openly challenge ANYONE to a training round.

Marluxia soon developed a knowledge of his 'Higher Up's' opinions of him, and frankly, wasn't amused by their scoffs and scorns about him. Every time he'd pass by one Higher Up, they would instantly change subjects, as if they were talking of him.

"Sometimes I think the Higher Up's should get some humility," He growled after eavesdropping on Numbers III and V talking about him. This time, Axel and Demyx were present company and gave him a quizzical look.

"You mean like, show up one of the top six?" Axel asked, cocking an eyebrow. Marluxia nodded, "They talk like they own the place-"

"Well, they kinda do." Demyx pointed out. "They were here before us."

"So? We all have the same right to be here, for being Nobodies to search for hearts..." Marluxia drifted off thoughtfully, unaware that flower petals started to materialize around him for the seventh time that day. "Perhaps I COULD show a Higher Up to have some humility for a change."

Axel snorted, lighting one of the floating petals aflame. "And how are you going to do that?"

"The training hall." Marluxia replied simply. Demyx shot him a curious look while Axel lit another petal on fire.

"Look Marly-" Marluxia immediately frowned at the nickname, but was ignored by Axel, "you haven't fought anyone ONCE. Heck, no one even knows what your weapon IS. So how are you going to show a Higher Up who's who if you don't have an _ounce _of experience?"

Marluxia smirked, "Just because no one has SEEN me practice doesn't mean I DON'T." A particularly large flower petal floated into Axel's hand before being snatched away by Marluxia. In a dazzling flash, a large weapon materialized and grew from Marluxia's grasp, lengthening and stretching to a long pole with a curved blade at the end. The blade itself was a soft shade of pink, with the handle of the weapon a hue of light green. Axel and Demyx blinked at the weapon.

"A scythe?" Demyx asked, eyeing it with a combination of surprise and awe. Axel stayed quiet but kept his eyes on the LARGE curving blade, wondering if he should ever try lighting the garden on fire ever again. Marluxia nodded, allowing the scythe to dematerialize, before smirking again. "Now, who should be the Higher Up that gets the HONOR of being my example?"

A knock came from the door, "Neophytes to the Meeting Room! Now!"

"Looks like we have our volunteer." Axel smirked, crossing his arms.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Vexen was almost beside himself, a self-confident grin on his face. "You cannot be _serious_ Number XI, a spar with me?" He snorted, "I doubt it'd be long enough to even consider a _struggle_." Some other Higher Up's chuckled darkly at Vexen's remark, but Marluxia managed to keep a completely confident face.

"I AM serious. I challenge you, Vexen, to a bout in the training hall." A small smirk formed on his face, "...Unless, you don't _want_ to fight me." The Graceful Assassin was almost amused, watching as Vexen scoffed at his retort.

"I guess it's about time us senior members of this Organization teach you neophytes some respect." Number IV narrowed his eyes, "I accept your challenge."

Murmurs broke out from the other members, and Marluxia distinctively saw Luxord already calculating odds for the upcoming bout. Chances were that this fight would be bet on, mostly to Vexen's favor.

Smirking to himself, Marluxia looked away from everyone. "_Perfect._"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The Training Hall was large and spacious, with nothing to it, except for the large mural of the Organization's symbol on the ground. There were no obstacles, and gave almost everyone an equally fair ground to spar on.

Marluxia stood on one side of the room, a cool and confident air around him. Vexen prowled the other end, awaiting Superior's signal to begin.

There were only a few rules to training bouts, one of them being not having any weapon out when the fight begins. Portaling was cheating as teleporting also was frowned upon. No one was allowed to completely destroy their opponent (obviously) and when it was declared an 'end' to the spar, it ended. No ifs ands or buts.

Way above the Training Hall was the Observation Room, where other members came to watch the proceedings if they wished so. Marluxia could see at least seven figures, and was sure that the others weren't near the observing window yet.

"Why do you have that arrogant smirk on your face?" Vexen snorted, "Care to lose ALL of your respect this early on?" Marluxia only gazed passively back, wearing a look that just said: I know something that you don't. Vexen frowned at this but didn't say anything else.

"**_Numbers IV and XI..._**" Xemnas' amplified voice echoed through the entire room, making Marluxia flinch. "**_Your training round commences...NOW!_**"

Immediately, Vexen summoned his weapon, one that Marluxia had seen many times. A shield with vicious spikes topside, sleek and blue, appeared on the Chilly Academic's arm. As Marluxia suspected, Vexen kept the shield in front of him, leaving his back defenseless.

All too easy.

With a sweeping gesture, Marluxia summoned a plethora of sakura petals, all of which hovered around him. He stood there.

Vexen blinked, confused for a moment, but only just. He also made a wide sweeping motion, added with a triumphant laugh. Marluxia cringed at this; always had he disliked Vexen's rather..._unmanly_ 'battle-cry'. A line of sharp stalagmites of ice burst from the ground, heading straight for Marluxia.

Marluxia smirked to himself, suddenly snatching a petal from the vortex of petals and racing directly at the line of ice. Vexen lowered his shield, "Giving up already Number XI?"

Suddenly, a flash of blinding light erupted from Marluxia's palm, where he had the petal. Vexen flinched, pulling his shield up to block the light from his eyes. A smashing sound reached his ears before a sudden jolt of force, propelling the Chilly Academic backwards a few feet.

"That's what YOU think." Marluxia said softly, gripping his scythe and giving the coolest stare at Vexen.

"Nice to see you're not completely _helpless_ Neophyte." Vexen complimented, a ball of ice forming in his unseen hand. Marluxia only gazed back, still with his arrogant smirk.

**WHAM!**

A rush of petals slammed into Vexen's back, knocking him down to the floor, shield under him. Before Vexen could move, he felt a cold press of metal against his neck. "Looks like I win." Marluxia declared airily, holding the scythe with the greatest of pressure, forcing Vexen flat on the floor.

Marluxia could swear he heard a string of curses coming from the Chilly Academic.

"**_The round is over, dematerialize your weapons and proceed to the Observation Room_**."

Allowing his scythe to vanish into the air, Marluxia turned and portaled quickly before Vexen would get the time to get up and throttle him for such an embarrassing defeat. If Marluxia had timed it right, the overall fight lasted for only a minute, making it by far the shortest spar ever in the Training Hall.

As soon as Marluxia appeared in the Observation Room, he saw with great satisfaction that ALL of the Higher Up's, minus Xemnas, were looking at him in both surprise and respect. Demyx was by Luxord, collecting a large sum of munny for betting on the Graceful Assassin. Sighing, Marluxia headed to a seat and plopped down.

"I can't believe how powerful you are Number XI," A cold and impassive voice murmured, "You have great strength that could be an asset to the Organization...or a curse."

"Thinking that Mar would do anything to harm the Organization again Saix?" Demyx asked, strolling over and looking unusually perkier. Marluxia knew that the Melodious Nocturne would never talk to Saix in a genial manner, so the munny and win must have boosted his courage...if he had any that is.

The Luna Diviner only ignored Demyx, before turning and walking away. Demyx crossed his arms, "I don't get him. First he says that Axel will be a traitor, and now YOU. Think he's off his rocker?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Marluxia replied, "Saix is a tad too neurotic to declare anyone being traitorous." He glanced at Demyx, "So, how much?"

Demyx smirked, patting his concealed pocket. "Enough to last for a couple months." He frowned, "I should've bet my WHOLE savings, that would've been ALOT of munny." Marluxia raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

In a black swirl of tendrils, Vexen appeared inside the Observation Room, almost seething at such a humiliating defeat. Some of the other Higher Up's looked away from him, offering no condolences for fighting a neophyte and consequently losing. Vexen only seemed to seethe even more at this, sitting down in a seat and rubbing his temple.

Axel walked over to where the Chilly Academic was brooding, a jackal's grin on his face. "Man Vexen, you must be getting OLD if you lost to one of us neophytes huh?" Marluxia watched in satisfaction as Vexen almost _squirmed_ at Axel's statement. The Flurry of Dancing Flames only grinned more sadistically, "Especially a newbie neophyte at that."

"Leave me alone Number VIII." Vexen growled dangerously, but Axel only barked out a short mocking laugh before leaving. Marluxia sighed, smirking slightly to himself. Demyx chortled, "Looks like us 'lower' members will be getting more respect now eh?"

"Either that or respect for our elders will diminish instead." Marluxia added, sounding roughly amused. Although, as much as he tried not to imagine it, Marluxia had this notion, a small notion, that Vexen would be sour after the defeat.

Ah well, he didn't care anyway.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** And thus, Neophyte is done! A long hiatus I know, but I updated finally!

Random Moogle: Hooray! Now, onto the overdue replies!

Replies to Reviews:

Arexia: Actually, pretty soon. The RFN plot will be continued next chapter, so it'll include some more plot development and maybe even another Org. member popping up.

EliasDaemonwing: Thanks!

Moonshine's Guide: ...Stuff. And my hiatuses are long and cruel, huh? I need to fix that...

JustAnotherAnimeFan: Okay, umm, I dunno if I can answer all your questions right here so I'll save them for later. And, I won't let this die because it's just too much fun to write! Just think of the hiatuses as comas.

venusgal100: Thanks for the review, and I'm glad it made ya giggle!

LKani-X: Hehehe, the closer KH: FM+ is, the more followers of Marluxia shall grow. Hopefully. And thanks for all the food!

**Lady Keyblade:** They'll show up eventually, don't worry!

kittylover1890: Heh, nice title. "Mar and Lux's Excellent Adventures"? A little corny but pretty good...

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**Danny:** And so, with this done, Sahxyel can write another portion to add to RFN. Perhaps she'll somehow intertwine everything in this to make it a mixed up Marluxia-based story. Nice huh?

Me: This chapter dealt with why Vexen hated Marluxia's guts. He got shown up. Badly. And lost every ounce of respect he had. Sad, isn't it? Also it's PreCOM. Duh.

Random Moogle: No. Anyway, review everyone!


	9. RFN: Troubled Horizons

-1**Sahxyel:** Phew, finally got to a computer. One that has a word processor anyway.

Danny: Her old one ran in with a particularly bad virus.

Random Moogle: A VERY bad virus. Still doesn't work…

Me: Unfortunately. Here, finally, is the next RFN chapter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer Guy:** Haven't owned anything from day one.

**RFN: Troubled Horizons**

He wasn't very aware of what was happening over the next few hours, more inclined to snoozing in whatever chair he found and holding a growing number of coin ladened buckets rather than what was going on in the light and sound filled casino floor. A few number of times, the Graceful Assassin found himself sleeping at intervals while his associate continued gambling tirelessly throughout the entire night. The sixty dollars that they had initially started with expanded into hundreds, then later thousands with the Gambler of Fate's expert skill of multiplying money like Moogles.

Needless to say, Marluxia was both exhausted and slightly famished from an entire day with no rest or nourishment at all. His deep blue eyes flickered open a final time, gazing at a clock that was mounted on the wall. When they had entered, it was barely nine o'clock in the evening. Now it was bordering six thirty in the morning. Marluxia yawned widely, still not fully awake.

"Had a good rest Number XI?" Luxord asked, an amused tone in his voice. Currently, he was filling three buckets with coins as the machine in front blared a siren, spilling forth coins from its slot.

"It depends what a good rest can defined as." Marluxia said roughly, looking slightly annoyed. Luxord only shrugged at him, before setting his third bucket down and picking up a fourth. Marluxia raised an eyebrow at him, "How much?"

Luxord smirked, "A fair hundred thousand, I'd say. Personally, I would have gone for a clean million but these casino chaps never seem to let me get that close." He gave an airy sigh. "While you were asleep, I took the liberty of creating a bank account. So that transactions can be a tad more secure."

Marluxia looked at him incredulously. "In the span of _nine hours _you've managed to get that much money, create a bank account-"

"And get the both of us some identification." Luxord tossed a card into Marluxia's bucket of coins. To his astonishment, it had his picture on it, complete with information and…

"Why is my name: Mark Luxia?"

The Gambler of Fate looked extremely amused, "Would you prefer if your REAL name was included? Judging by how that name would be recognized instantly, or considered as a fake, I decided to change our names to benefit our secrecy."

"And yet, my name's _Mark_?" Marluxia said flatly. "And where did you get my picture?"

"You were somewhat awake when that photo was taken Marluxia." Luxord replied, his tone even. "I can hazard a guess that you do not remember though…"

Marluxia looked at him sharply, "You think?!" Not even waiting for a reply, he continued. "And you're telling me that you actually had managed to set up false identification, make a bank account, AND win about a hundred thousand 'dollars' in the time span of nine hours?!"

A grin played on Luxord's face, "That's the beauty of the city of Las Vegas Number XI. Would you suspect less from a city so immersed in darkness?" Marluxia found that for once, he had no witty retort to Luxord's question. Instead, he only grumbled and pocketed the card.

"So now what do we do now Fearless Leader?" Luxord asked, smirking again and finally finishing filling his buckets of coins. He glanced at Marluxia, who only looked pensive.

"Breakfast." Marluxia replied, suddenly aware of a gnawing feeling in his stomach. Luxord nodded, getting up with his three buckets. With a sigh, Marluxia also stood up, ladened with four buckets. They both headed to the nearest place to cash the buckets in before searching for an illusive place to eat.

They soon happened upon a place that had grabbed both Nobodies attentions. Buffet.

"Good enough for me." Luxord smirked, paying for both of their meals. An enticing aroma of maple syrup, salty ham, and various pastries seeped from the hall ahead leading to the buffet room, making Marluxia VERY interested on just getting inside.

"Okay sirs, follow me to your seats." A waitress offered, leading the two into a large hall-like area, filled with tables and chairs. Some tables were filled with people, eating varieties of food zealously. Again, Marluxia was reminded of his stomach's throbbing dull pain.

"And what would you two want for drinks?" The waitress asked, once leading them to their table.

"Coffee." Both of them replied simultaneously, much to Marluxia's surprise. The waitress nodded and jotted something down on her notepad before setting a slip of paper down on the table. "And here you go, enjoy the food!" She said perkily. With a smile, she walked to the kitchen.

Luxord blinked, "Friendly customer service, eh Number XI?" He looked to Marluxia, but saw that the Graceful Assassin was nowhere in sight. He sighed, shaking his head, "Why do I bother?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

By the time both Nobodies were full and satisfied, the buffet was filling with families who were staying in the hotel. The gigantic hall was loud and swarming with old, young, and middle aged people carrying steaming plates of food. Had Marluxia of not eaten so much earlier, he would have been persuaded to getting a BIT more food…just in case he needed extra sustenance.

Luxord was sipping from his seventh cup of coffee casually, watching the people mill about. "Well, breakfast can be considered finished. What now?"

Marluxia mused over the question, "Perhaps find this 'airport' that can take us to a different city." He said flatly, already having enough of the city of gambling and buffets. "I WOULD like to get off this world by the next decade Number X."

"But what's your hurry?" Luxord replied slyly, putting his mug down. "There's no Superior, no pointless missions, no Saix, and no dull discussions anymore. Personally, I find this change of scenery refreshing and relaxing compared to what I had before."

The Graceful Assassin stared at him, "You're in a casino. I would ASSUME you'd enjoy this more than being at the Castle That Never Was." He crossed his arms, frowning slightly. Luxord gave a rusty chuckle.

"But don't YOU enjoy this either? There is no more Organization XIII, and no more reigns on you. The Superior is, more than likely, wandering the dark void along with the other ten members, at your mercy so to say."

"Mercy?"

The Gambler of Fate sighed, "Do you think it was mere coincidence that I emerged from your conjured portal here Marluxia? That portal probably connected to the main darkness rather than a dark corridor. As I recall, I believe you were aiming for that." A cool smirk went on his face, making Marluxia frown even more. "And now here I am, and here you are. We're both trapped on this world of people that either know who we are, or fear our powers with no resistance whatsoever."

That statement made a switch flick on the Graceful Assassin's mind. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Luxord was right. Xemnas was stuck in the dark realm, and he was out in a world eating pancakes smothered in syrup and seeing the light of day. It was a pretty good setup, despite what he could have had.

"You make a very intriguing argument Luxord." Marluxia admitted, "But, I'd still rather be back in familiar territory than here. Living for so long just reminds you of what's missing." The void in his chest fully agreed with that, "It is only a mere side stop in retrieval of the hearts both you and I have lost."

"Too true." Luxord nodded, finishing his coffee. "To the airport then?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The yellow cab deposited the Nobodies in the Airport's entry point, which lead into a multi-leveled place. Escalators connected all the floors to each other, as well as the occasional elevator. Not many people were inside, which both the Nobodies thought was odd. Shouldn't a place like this have more people than usual?

Needless to say, the two were stunned with the size of the place. Luxord decided to walk around and examine the shops that were located on the higher floors while Marluxia went to go get tickets to a different place.

He REALLY regretted doing that.

"Hello, welcome to America Airlines, would you like to book a flight-er" the attendant at the counter squinted at Marluxia, adjusting her glasses to make her see better…and conveniently also make her look like an owl. "…miss? "

Marluxia STARED at her, his blue eyes showing a mixture of both annoyance and shock. "Erm-" His deep voice seemed to set off something within the woman's head.

"Oh! I'm sorry dearie." The woman apologized, readjusting her glasses. "I can't see all that well, and saw that pink hair…"

"It's quite alright." Marluxia gritted out, mentally stopping himself from decapitating the woman for insulting him like that. "I'd like two tickets to the next flight out."

The woman typed speedily on the computer in front of her, glancing at Marluxia occasionally. "Hmm…we have an opening that goes to Los Angeles in about a…half hour." The woman stopped typing. "Two tickets, one-way?"

"Yes." The woman typed again, focused on the screen. Marluxia waited a bit longer, even looking around boredly. He saw a man with a briefcase standing in line behind him, who was staring at him. The man quickly looked away, coughing. Narrowing his eyes, Marluxia looked back to the woman.

"Okay, some I.D sir?"

Remembering the 'I.D' Luxord had given him, Marluxia handed the card over to the woman, and again waited. He drummed his fingers on the counter, looking to the shops that Luxord was, more than likely, enjoying himself at. While he himself was being insulted and stared at like a freak.

Joy.

"Everything checks out. Two tickets to Los Angeles, the 10:00 flight. Coach." She printed something out and handed the papers to Marluxia. "Here you go Mr. Luxia."

"Thank you." Marluxia gritted out, taking the papers and his I.D back. Grumbling under his breath, Marluxia headed to the shops to try and find Luxord. The woman and man watched him leave owlishly, before continuing their business.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

After checking various shops, Marluxia finally found Luxord in a sort of bar. The Gambler of Fate was sipping a coffee while watching the television that was fixed in the wall. He apparently bought himself a black briefcase from only Kingdom Hearts knew where, and was drumming his fingers on it.

Marluxia walked swiftly through the bar, again ignoring the stares the other patrons shot at him. "Luxord!"

"Shh!" Luxord glared at Marluxia, before returning his attention to the T.V. "Sit down and watch."

"What-?" Marluxia glanced at the T.V, frowning slightly. The station was a news station obviously, showing an extremely large city with a wide-pan shot. A headline under the shot read: Unusual weather patterns detected within the Manhattan area, advised evacuations are now being distributed throughout the New York area. Onscreen, it seemed as if several of the skyscrapers had odd transparent spires jutting out from the sides of them.

Almost like…_ice._

"It's Number IV." Luxord said darkly, taking another sip from his coffee. Marluxia's incredulousness only prompted the Gambler of Fate again. "I saw him in a brief clip of a skyscraper suddenly freezing…and, unfortunately, he isn't alone."

"Are you SURE?"

"Quite positive." Sighing, Luxord sat the cup on the bar. "And I know he isn't alone because freezing an entire city is something Vexen would NEVER do on his own volition. He's with someone." He looked to Marluxia lazily. "How much would you bet if it was Xemnas?"

"Against you?" Marluxia rolled his eyes, "I'd rather not, you'd win the bet."

Luxord looked deeply offended, "I would not! Just because I win a few times in card games-"

"A few?"

"Okay, granted, give or take twenty or fifty times-wait." Luxord frowned slightly, "We're getting off topic. How did Vexen get out of the abyss?"

Marluxia glanced back at the screen, watching it intently. A sudden shift in the camera went to a particularly large building that was getting an icy sheen over it. Two small black dots were atop of the building, one watching the other as he made various wild gestures, freezing the building. The shocked news reporters yelled frantically, but Marluxia paid no notice. The camera zoomed in one the two dots, the screen fuzzy before in cleared.

Almost EVERYONE in the bar gasped. The patrons eyes quickly darted to the two men sitting at the bar. Marluxia felt their eyes burn into his back, watching the TV as it showed Vexen, maniacally, freezing the building, with a silver haired man watching him impassively.

"It seems we will need new clothing very soon Number XI." Luxord muttered lowly, turning and noticing the stares he was receiving.

Marluxia nodded, quickly leaving with Luxord following. The people blinked and watched them go.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Is there ANYTHING this airport doesn't have?" Marluxia wondered in amazement, looking at the clothing store in shock. Luxord only shrugged before walking in, followed by Marluxia.

The store seemed very business-like. Dress slacks and shirts were everywhere, along with sophisticated looking ties and shoes, socks were even on display. The person working the register glanced up, before looking back down at her magazine.

"Find something to wear." Luxord said quietly to Marluxia, before going over to some slacks and looking them over. Marluxia, inwardly, was opposed to his change in wardrobe, but he supposed if he lingered in the standard Organization XIII garb, he'd be picked out easily.

Not that his appearance had anything to do with it either.

He strolled over to the dress shirts, looking over for one that would fit him. There were many different ones, and colors varied from white, black, blue and…pink. Marluxia decided to look at the shirts later, in case he decided what color to wear. Instead, he looked over the slacks, picking a simple black pair before getting the black jacket that matched.

Luxord already picked his clothing, hurrying into back to change out.

Again, Marluxia was confronted with the blasted dress shirts. His eyes immediately found their way to the shoes, again distracting himself from the pain of choosing the dress shirt. He picked a comfortable looking pair of black shoes.

"Hmm," Luxord exited the back dressing room, now donning black slacks, a white dress shirt that was buttoned up all the way, and a black jacket, zipped halfway. One could easily describe him as a sharp British businessman if they ever caught sight of him. "Not half bad." He carried a plain white bag, the black contents spilling out of the top. Obviously, it was Luxord's forsaken Organization gear. His other hand firmly clutched the briefcase he had, where his items that he recovered during his escapade in the convention were.

Sighing in defeat, Marluxia grabbed the dress shirt he was eyeing and quickly pushed past Luxord, now inside the dressing room.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The plane was supremely uncomfortable. Both Luxord and Marluxia were seated in close proximity, almost jammed into their seats. Children screamed or cried and adults in vain tried to calm them down.

And of course, there were a select group of people who were staring at the two Organization members in awe. Marluxia sighed and looked out the window, watching the people outside the plane scurry around hastily. He had to admit that changing wardrobe had in fact drawn a large amount of attention away, but his standout pink hair easily drew it back in.

Luxord, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by all the attention that was drawn over, instead reading a short novella he picked up before the flight. It was some sort of crime/thriller, Marluxia didn't care to learn more. He wasn't into that kind of genre anyway.

Glancing down, Marluxia observed his garb of choice. He had to admit that it was more lighter than the Organization clothing, which was unbearably heavy now that he thought about it. He supposed the leather made it heavy, added with the pure silver drawstrings. Not to mention all the clothing he wore UNDER the cloak.

Altogether, they were able to bring everything on-board. Luxord had purchased a duffle bag to place the clothing, if they would ever need them again.

The plane suddenly jolted forward, snapping Marluxia's musing like a twig. The plane seemed to bounce on the way down the runway, slowly turning to a large strip of asphalt. Soon, the plane picked up speed, rolling forward and bouncing occasionally. Slowly, the nose of the plane rose upward, pointing at the sky. Marluxia watched as the ground grew farther away, until the airport was naught but a tiny speck.

Paling slightly, Marluxia looked away from the sight. He never was very fond of looking down from such high altitudes, this being no exception. Luxord already had his book open, reading intently. Sighing, Marluxia looked back out the window boredly, now resolving to not look down.

Oddly enough, Marluxia's thoughts started to wander as he saw the surrounding deserts. "_Such a peculiar world. So weak and fragile, and yet so…complete. A perfect mesh of darkness and light, along with something else._" He blinked, "_Los Angeles, the next destination. Will that bring me closer to leaving this place?_" He glanced at Luxord, "_Or giving me another traveling companion?_"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** Okay, I'm bushed. And the title of this fic has been officially changed to: **Deadly Nightshades**. Why you ask? Well, one, I'm not satisfied with how it's named now, since I've transformed it into a plot somehow. Two, it's a plant, as pointed out by an awesome reviewer (you know who you are, I just added Deadly in front). And three, it represents Marluxia…since he's an assassin hence deadly and nightshades because it's a plant. And the name also has a pun. Read the reviews for more cluing in.

Danny: What a mouthful.

Random Moogle: Replies! Hooray!

Replies to Reviews:

Moonshine's Guide: Saix is always scary, no doubt. And yes, I torment Vexen like mad. But I try to canonize this as possible. Marluxia and Vexen are on bad terms, so I made a reason why that is so. And you don't suck at titles, I liked it honestly!

**Lady Keyblade:** Yup.

mayaXa: Thanks, I'm glad I made Marluxia likable in this to you!

LKani-X: Thank you! And yay for the non-derogatory statement!

EliasDaemonwing: Same here, but now it's summer. Testing has stressed me out so badly, I had writer's block for MONTHS. Ugh, I feel terrible.

Laharl The Overlord: One thing people should learn from me is that eventually I'll finish something. I NEVER give up on anything I start…so far. But I've got ideas for this so don't worry!

---

Me: Done!


	10. The Searchers

-1**Random Moogle:** A plot? This mass of jumbled up stories of Marluxia HAS a plot?

Me: Yeah. Which is finally explained in this chapter! It will also include a good amount of Original Characters too.

Danny: Simply amazing…not.

**Disclaimer Guy:** Wherever the Pondering Writer is taking this, she still is borrowing the elements that you recognize. Everything else that you DON'T recognize she actually owns. Go figure.

**The Searchers**

She skimmed through the history database in the computer. Her green eyes focused intently as the numerals were selected, the screen on the computer flaring to life with vibrant color. Many different clips instantly popped up, some she had seen and even named to remember what they were. "Neophyte, Garden, Movie Night…" She frowned, typing in something in the search box, pulling a file up.

"If this isn't a surprise, I don't know what is." She jumped, spinning around and springing out of the chair. Her black hair gently brushed her cheek, but she took no notice, instead staring at surprise at the man who interrupted her. He chuckled, "Looks like you got your hand caught in the cookie jar, yo."

Her face flushed immediately, "What are YOU doing here?"

"I COULD ask you the same thing." A cocky smirk, "Looking up your boyfriend?"

"No." She reached back, hitting the escape button on the keypad. The screen blacked out, taking all of its information with it. "He's not him."

He looked at her, nonplussed. "Then why are you looking at all?"

She gave him a sharp glare, hoping to quell the smirk he was wearing. No effect. Sighing angrily, she pushed past him and left the room. He watched her go lazily, before also glancing at the shut off computer. With a tired sigh, he turned and left, following her but keeping a distance.

She walked faster, down the sophisticated metallic halls to the stairs, quickly climbing up and out of the sub-terra floor, back up into the brighter part of the building they currently were occupying. He casually followed her still, but a curious distant look was on his face.

Ignoring him, she threw the door open, walking out into the foyer. Her thoughts traveled with her as she looked around. They were so close to finding them…so many years, now coming to a close. How long ago was it when she ended up with the Searchers?

"Hey!" She turned, seeing a boy around the age of ten looking at her inquiringly. His dirty blonde hair didn't stand prominently out, but the aqua colored eyes could catch anyone who would pass by. She nodded to him, "What is it Jek?"

Jek smiled, his bangs immediately slumped over, covering his eyes. "Kata thinks he found a way to the Dark City!" Her eyes widened at the child, but Jek continued on. "He says it might have to do with the teleportation ray that we turned off in the lab."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. "..Where's Kata?"

"He's in town, asking about the computer some more. He says he found it out by a bunch of teenagers, but he needs more crucial evidence." A woman with soft blonde hair sighed, looking up at her from the ground floor. "Have you seen Caliber though? He hasn't come back since his escapade into Twilight Town."

"He's probably at the local pub, chugging down everything in sight."

"No one ASKED for your opinion Reno!" The blonde woman snapped angrily, glaring down at the man who stood in front of the doorway to the Library. Reno only quirked an eyebrow, the goggles atop his head tilted slightly.

"I'm just saying…" A frown appeared on Reno's face, his demeanor darkening slightly. "That rumor he heard that they all are dead really is upsetting him, yo."

Jek shot up, his overlarge blue jacket almost hitting the blonde woman in the face. "They aren't dead!" He shouted, looking very upset. Without another word, the young child rushed down the hall and into a room, slamming the door behind him.

Once again, she was glaring at Reno, who held up his arms in defense. "Hey, if the kid doesn't like reality then tough sh-"

She slapped him hard, sending Reno crashing to the ground, a red welt on his face. He grimaced and touched the welt tenderly. "Oww…jeez Ruaska-"

"Jeez nothing!" Ruaska snapped, glaring down at the red-haired man angrily. "Jek already knows that his brother isn't who he thought he was anymore! Now your telling him that the only remnant of his existence is dead!?"

Reno rolled his eyes, standing up from the floor. "Well what do YOU want me to tell him? That his bro's okay somewhere and probably thinking about him right now?" His reply was so caustic that Ruaska mentally had to stop herself from strangling him.

Instead, she chose to take the higher path, turning away from Reno and climbing up the stairs. She headed to the room and knocked gently on the door. She could hear sniffles from inside. "Jek?"

"W-What?" Jek's voice barely carried outside the room, almost too soft for her to hear. Tentatively, she opened the door and peered in.

The young boy sat in the middle of the pure white room, staring at a silvery object in front of him sadly and rubbing his arm. Some parts of the sleeve of the jacket were wet, and his eyes seemed a tad pinker than normal. She slowly walked inside and sat in a chair next to him.

Jek sniffed, "I remember when he gave me this harmonica." He plucked the silver instrument off the table, "It was when we were going to India…before he got his favorite Sitar." A depressed sigh escaped from him, before he turned his attention to her, his aquamarine eyes staring into her green ones. "Do you remember who you're Searching for?"

"Yes." Ruaska replied, her thoughts traveling back to the computer in the lab. "I remember when he'd always surprise me in his garden with new flowers he got from exotic places…how we'd always get into witty conversations…I only won once against him." She looked to the window, lost in thought.

"Did he always look so, uhm," Jek looked uncomfortable, "I mean, I saw him on the computer when Kata was showing everyone what the Nobodies looked like and he was-"

She shook her head and chuckled weakly, "No. He never had hair that eye-catching. Plus it was shorter."

"Oh." Jek nodded. He was silent for a while longer. "So what was his name?"

Ruaska smiled, "His name was-"

"Knock knock!" The door swung open, revealing the thin redhead from earlier. His ponytail swished as he spun wildly at the crashing sound outside. "Kata's back, he's on the warpath yo. Need a place to lie low-"

Ruaska glared at him, sincerely wishing that she could have strangled him earlier. "Why should we let you stay in here? You probably deserve whatever Kata wants to do to you." Jek nodded in firm agreement, also glaring at Reno. The sound of clomping from the stairs immediately made Reno looks around frantically, before he dived behind the table.

"I'm not here!" He hissed, but only received glares back.

The door swung open a moment later, revealing an aging man with deep blue hair that was pulled back into a very short ponytail accompanied by longer strands of hair that went past his shoulders. His wolf-like yellow eyes pierced through the room, scanning it, finally stopping on Ruaska and Jek. He gripped a walking cane tightly in his right hand and limped in slightly. "Where is he?" He asked gruffly, eyes darting all around the room. "Swear when I get my hands on him I'll rip his spine from his a-"

"Kata!" Ruaska snapped, interrupting him and gesturing to Jek. "He doesn't need to hear any more _language_ from YOU or Reno." She stood up and held Jek's hand, prompting him to stand up. Both of them silently walked past Kata, who limped in the room a little farther. Before shutting the door, Jek waved.

"Bye Kata, bye Reno!"

"RENO!" Kata roared, sweeping around. His blue robes swished from the air that swept past him, as he rounded the table.

Chuckling, Ruaska shut the door, looking down at Jek. "That wasn't very nice." She scolded, but the smile on her face nullified the message she was trying to send to the younger child.

"Reno isn't very nice either." Jek pointed out, ignoring the howls of pain coming from the White Room. Ruaska sighed and led him down the stairs, away from the White Room where cries of pain still could be heard.

The doors in front of the two opened, revealing a brown haired man with tiny circular spectacles. His black suit, which was normally well-kept was shabby, with his white undershirt sticking out. His usual slicked back hair now flyaway, with strands that went this way and that. A glum look was on his face, "Hello Jek, Ruaska." He murmured, his accented voice now accompanied with a slur. Shakily, the man readjusted his glasses in order to see them properly and walked in wobbly.

"Caliber, are you drunk?" Ruaska asked, completely surprised. Jek blinked at him but said nothing.

"N-no, I'm n-not drunk." Caliber replied, his blue eyes constantly going in and out of focus. "If no one minds, I'm going to bed." He walked awkwardly to the stairs, climbing up and going out of sight.

Jek looked worried, "Caliber never gets that woozy." He said quietly. "He musta been really sad to drink a lot."

Ruaska noticed Jek's sad look. "Don't worry Jek, it was only a rumor…and you know how gullible Caliber is, right?"

Jek nodded slightly, he sniffed. "R-Right." He didn't look back up, instead more interested in his jacket sleeve rather than anything else. Ruaska tilted her head at him, before gaining a kind smile.

"Do you want to go see more clips Jek?"

The boy's head immediately shot up. "Yeah!" A sunny smile was on his face, all the doubt and sadness dissolved in nanoseconds. Giddily, Jek ran up the stairs and to the Library, throwing the door open and darting inside. Ruaska shook her head, smiling still, and climbed the stairs.

It had been awhile since the Searchers had found the blessing Twilight Town was information wise. Radiant Garden was almost helpful, but half the people either never heard of the Organization XIII or hadn't anything else to say other than they were an evil group of heartless beings, with a goal to create Kingdom Hearts.

Other worlds we even LESS helpful. They had been to dreary castles, pirate ships, Grecian coliseums, Chinese temples, but all to dismay. Only the pirate world wielded some good news to them, well, mostly to Caliber. The Grecian coliseum only wielded a tiny bit of information, certainly not enough for anyone to get truly excited over.

"_The Searchers_…" Ruaska blinked, thinking pensively as she descended into the secret lab. "_Its been so long since I've joined. So many dead ends and so many disappointing finds…now we're so close to finding them-_" She entered the computer room, surprised to see Jek with the computer on, scrolling through the list happily and consequentially reading off all the names.

"Saix, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia and Larxene!" He chirruped happily, before scrolling back up to the file marked 'Demyx'. He blinked, "It's weird that their names are all changed and stuff."

Ruaska chuckled, walking up to him and ruffled his hair. "I thought so too kiddo."

"Hey!" Jek scowled, his hair now sticking up in the back. Hurriedly, he brushed the hair back down to regain his 'cool' look.

He clicked on the file, bringing up a screen with many different files on it, labeled in numerical order rather than by a real name. A panel opened on the side, revealing the picture of a man who appeared barely 21, leaning casually on a large instrument of sorts and smirking. His blonde hair was reminiscent of Jek's, but a tad darker and styled into a mullet. The eyes however were exactly like Jek's, an almost luminous aquamarine coloration. Like everyone else in the files, he wore dark robe-like attire, the Organization XIII standard uniform.

"Number Nine of the Organization, Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne." Jek read, a slight smile on his face. He glanced at Ruaska curiously, "Why do they have those titles?"

"Well," Ruaska started, thinking deeply. "I suppose…it must have done with what they did in their Other life. Like how Kata always says that Ais was enchanted with the moon, so his title is 'The Luna Diviner'."

"And like how Myde liked playing his music at night." Jek piped up, smiling. "So…then they haven't forgotten us maybe?"

She fell silent. Honestly, nobody in the Searchers knew whether or not they would remember or not. It seemed as if they remembered on the clips, but it wasn't very helpful in the least. The people that had saved them from the Heartless were different now, would it be that they would be scorned by them because they lost their hearts to save them?

Somehow, the Neophytes of the Organization all had a part in saving a Searcher from the Heartless in a pure and unselfish deed. Ruaska sometimes wondered why 'Axel' had bothered to save Reno, but the red-head would never reveal why that was so. Everyone else also had some sort of bond with the member too. Kata was Ais' father, Reno was…something to Lea, Jek was Myde's younger brother, Caliber was Ludro's best friend, and she-

"Ah, you're in here already?"

Jek turned, "Hi Kata!" The older man nodded sagely to Jek, limping inside the computer room slowly. Behind him, Reno sauntered in, also with a slight limp. Above his slash-like tattoos were newly forming black eyes, his goggles even lied askew on his head. He grumbled under his breath, glaring at Jek before leaning against the wall.

"Okay big boy, come on-"

"Why should I?" A slur came from the dark corridor. "They all are de-"

"Shh! Ruaska got Jek to calm down, don't do that to him again!"

"Elena, I can say WHATEVER I want-and I'm saying this: Some bratty kid with a gigantic key came and killed them all."

The blonde woman lead the brown haired man into the computer room, a slight scowl on her face. "Okay Caliber, tell me how that works out. HOW can a kid kill someone with an oversized key?" Elena asked, looking more interested in her business-like clothing rather than Caliber.

"Bludgeon them." Caliber grunted. Rolling her eyes, Elena let the man go, allowing him to crumple to the floor.

"Okay you lot, I need your attention." Five pairs of eyes swiveled to the elderly Kata, who had commandeered the computer console. Jek gladly got out of his way, retreating to where Ruaska and Elena were standing. The older man typed furiously one the computer.

"Sea…Salt…Ice Cream." He muttered, still typing. Reno scratched his head.

"I think there's a few more bars in the fridge-"

"No! The password to the function is 'Sea-Salt Ice Cream!" Kata snapped, pressing enter on the keyboard. Immediately next to the computer, an electric beam of light flashed down, sparkling and glowing an eerie luminescent light.

Caliber focused on the light, stumbling forward a bit. "What is it?"

Kata cleared his throat. "It's a special machine that'll take us to the way to the Dark City." He said, his voice coming off like a low growl. Caliber adjusted his spectacles and reached out. His fingers barely brushed the light when a blinding flash shone out.

"Caliber!"

The light died, Caliber was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd he go?" Jek asked, his eyes wide. Slowly, he walked forward, but was held back by Elena. "Did he get vaporized?!"

"No, don't be silly." Ruaska said sharply, but the feeling in her stomach didn't help. She looked back at the beam, holding her breath. "_Please…_"

Another flash of light suddenly flared from the device, momentarily blinding the entire group.

"You lot will NEVER believe what I found!!"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"An exact replica of the lab?" Kata wondered, looking around in curiosity. Ruaska blinked, slowly walking through the computer room. It seemed almost the same…except the console for the computer was completely destroyed. Bare sparks occasionally jumped from a wire.

Jek inspected the door leading up the stairs, but was instantly stopped by an invisible wall. "Oomph!" He shook his head, then reached out and knocked on the clear wall. "Can't go this way."

Caliber appeared a second later, accompanied by a disgruntled red-head who was carrying two fairly large bags. Elena glanced over at them, "So Caliber, what exactly is it that you wanted us to see other than this replica place?"

"I-It's not the replica, I swear. Just follow me." He headed eagerly to the other room, not stopped by an invisible wall, curiously enough. Ruaska followed him, and gasped when she entered the room.

The room was rather typical, square, blue, with a door at the far end that lead presumably to the pod room. In the corner in front of her however, was a swirling orange and black portal. It seemed big enough to fit a person through, at least one at a time. "Is that…?" She wondered, her voice a mere whisper.

Caliber nodded slightly, a smirk on his face. "The way to the Dark City."

Ruaska slowly approached the portal, her breath caught in her throat. This was it. _This was it!_ It was the final path to the Dark City, to the Organization's stronghold! The path to what they had been Searching for!

"Ru?" Ruaska looked to Caliber, who was staring at her cautiously. She realized something wet ran down her face and touched it. A tear?

"No WAY, yo." Ruaska turned and saw Reno, who had somehow managed to get down the stairs with what he was ladened with. His eyes were wide in astonishment, and Ruaska suspected that he would have dropped the bags if Kata wasn't directly behind him. The elder man prodded Reno with his walking cane, making him hurry up and reach the bottom of the stairs.

Jek followed Kata, his eyes immediately locked on the portal. Ruaska saw the kid's face instantly light up, his face almost glowing with pure happiness and anticipation. Elena followed, her eyes widening slightly at the portal, but unlike Jek, she managed to keep down her excitement.

Kata limped to the portal, his yellow eyes scanning it. He slowly reached out, his old arm went directly through the portal. Slowly he withdrew his arm, and clenched his fist. "Finally…" He muttered. A long pause reigned within the room. Kata looked sharply to them, "Well Searchers, why are we standing here like a bunch of sticks in the mud? Get a move on!"

"Yes sir!" Reno said, giving a mock salute. Kata narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't to anything. Instead, he limped into the portal. Reno followed, throwing the bags in first before leaping in afterwards. Jek ran insanely fast across the room, like a blue speeding dart. He gathered himself, then sprang straight in, no fear at all traced in his face. Caliber slunk in after Jek.

"Well, finally finishing this, aren't we?" Elena asked, staring at the portal. Ruaska nodded slightly, also staring at it. Slowly, she walked forward and hesitated.

"_What if he isn't there…and I've done all this for nothing?_" She thought, "_What if NONE of them are there?_"

"Are you going or not Ruaska?" Ruaska blinked, realizing that Elena was watching her, apparently mildly annoyed. "They're all waiting."

"Right." Ruaska turned back to the portal, took a deep breath, and walked through. As soon as the black mists touched her skin, all the warmth seemed to drain from her, like she had just walked through a veil of icy air. Shivering, she stepped out.

The new place she was in was like nothing she had ever seen before. The varying hues of orange and blue swept through the walls, along with moving Nobody symbols. There was no indication of floor beneath her, but she was standing on something flat and firm. At the other end of the strange place was a much larger portal, swirling a mixture of lime green and black mist. No one else was in the place, making her deduce that perhaps it was a place in-between…perhaps.

She walked across the curiously flat ground and straight through the other portal at the far end.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Me: I know, rather confusing isn't it? This is a cast I made up (except for Reno and Elena) and I hope you all didn't find it too off. This IS connected, like everything else in the story, hence the RFN arc and this will coincide eventually. The OC names I made up. Jek is to match Myde (Dr. Jeckle, Mr. Hyde), Caliber and Ludro, or Luxord, to coincide with two Las Vegas hotels (Excaliber and Luxor), and Kata is to Ais (Kata is a cutoff of 'Katana' and Ais is a mixed up word for Sai).

Can anyone guess who Ruaska is? She was featured before in Deadly Nightshades…

Random Moogle: Reviews! …There wasn't much…

Replies to Reviews:

Aldalena: I updated soon enough for you? And the only Anime I watch is so corny that I'll be laughed at forever…okay, it's Pokemon. I've been watching it since 1999, and never gave it up. (I'm such a kid.) Never seen Naruto, Inyuyasha, Fruits Basket, Howl's Moving Castle…

You get it, right?

LKani-X: Only one thing I can say to that: Wow. I've never had a review that long before..thanks! And that spell seems to have worked, hm?

EliasDaemonwing: Heh, and here I am with so much inspiration and time. Hope you enjoyed this!

mayaXa: IT SPREADS MUHAHAHAHA-! I mean, uhm, cool?

Moonshine's Guide: Soon, and I don't think it will. The 98 is going to the database in the sky…I AM however going to get my pwnsome XP back due to the lovable Geek Squad!

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Danny: And that is all for now. Get reviewing and leave.


	11. RFN: City of the Angels

-1**Sahxyel:** Because I'm on a roll with my Marluxia fic, I've decided not to forsake it for OPAN and instead work on this for a little longer.

Danny: So OPAN fans are going to be mad at you?

Me: Until I can see that Reality episode to regain interest, yes.

Random Moogle: Okay…

**Disclaimer Guy:** Since her comeback she needs everyone to know that she will never profit from this. Nor does she own anything.

**RFN: City of the Angels**

"Marluxia."

Twitch.

"Marluxia!"

Twitch.

"We're here, wake up!"

"Nnh?" Marluxia opened an eyes, looking directly out of the window he had been leaning on before he fell asleep. He saw many airplanes outside, a slightly dingier sky, and the sun, which had reached the middle of the sky. He yawned mightily and shook his head, clearing his thoughts of dozing off again.

No one was left in the plane, oddly enough, and Luxord was waiting patiently for Marluxia to get out of the seat. He thrust the duffle bag at the pink-haired nobody and walked to the front of the plane, exiting apparently.

Marluxia woozily stood up, somehow managing to squeeze his way out of the aisle and out of the plane. The duffle bag he held tightly in his grip, knowing that if he lost it there would be a good chance he would never find the two uniforms ever again. He exited the terminal, and was almost stampeded on by a passing group of people.

The Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX, was swarming with people, unlike the Las Vegas Airport. Marluxia had to nimbly dodge every group of businesspeople or families that bustled on past. Unlike the previous placed he was in, hardly anyone noticed him at all.

"A plus…I suppose." Marluxia muttered, dodging out of the way and retreating to a far wall. The Airport seemed to have just _currents_ of people rushing to and fro. The sides of the walls seemed to have a slower flow of walking, thankfully.

Luxord was nowhere in sight, giving Marluxia the suspicion that he had either ditched him, or got swept away in the torrent of people. He opted for the latter, since he didn't think the Gambler of Fate would truly leave. At least not until he found someone who was stronger than Marluxia-

"Wait…" Marluxia sensed something, a shift in the darkness drew his attention straight away. What was that? It seemed like the dark energy was being _siphoned_ from somewhere…

"A portal! That lousy double-crosser!" Marluxia snarled, clenching his fist. Without a second thought, he literally _glided_ through the masses of people, only a black and pink blur to the people he rushed by. He wasn't even aware that he summoned his scythe, but as he jumped down two stories, landing gracefully on the floor, he DID notice one thing.

The Gambler of Fate was pinned under someone who was wearing a black Organization cloak. The portal summoned melted away, leaving nothing behind. Marluxia paused, staring at the Organization member for a long moment. His fingers clenched around the green shaft of his scythe, he wasn't even listening to the shouts from the airport security, ignoring the attention he was drawing in. All he could see was the red spiky hair and knew immediately who emerged from Luxord's conjured portal.

"YOU!" Petals materialized around him, swirling around in malice. Marluxia saw as the redhead look to him, the green eyes widening a fraction.

"Oh."

In an instant, Marluxia sprang at Axel, swinging his scythe, only to be deflected by two chakrams at the last moment. Gasps of surprise came from the surrounding crowd but Marluxia wasn't listening to the murmurs, the shouts, or the exclamations of surprise.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames smirked, though his arms struggled to keep the scythe away from his body. "Marluxia, you're looking particularly murderous today. How long has it been? A year?" Axel asked, his voice calm and cocky despite the situation.

Vines exploded from the linoleum floor, causing the people to flee in terror. A sudden bite of pain raced through Marluxia's arm, and snapping sounds came from all around. Ignoring Axel for the moment, Marluxia spun around, spinning his scythe like a fan, deflecting the bullets that the airport security were firing. Luxord had vanished, the floor covered with cards, and Axel also was deflecting the barrage of bullets that were aimed at him.

As soon as the rain of bullets stopped, Marluxia spun around and lunged at Axel again, hooking the Flurry's hood in the curve of his scythe-

WHAM!

A card jutted up from the floor, blocking Marluxia's path and stopping him from retreating with Axel. A voice came from the cards. "Axel, what say you to defeating Marluxia together?"

"Traitor!" Marluxia roared, but it seemed as if he was ignored.

"Sounds like a plan to me Lux!" Axel replied, immediately teleporting from Marluxia's scythe's hold. The Graceful Assassin glared down at the cards, knowing that Axel and Luxord were hiding somewhere among them. Suddenly, a flurry of cards leapt up and spun like razors at him, all whizzing towards his head. Taking his scythe, Marluxia swung it around in a circular arc, knocking the cards away with absolute ease. Axel stood outside the cards, chakrams at the ready, with Luxord standing beside him, not wielding anything apparently.

Axel flew like a bullet at him, surrounded by flames. Bracing himself, Marluxia felt the scorching flames hit his body, along with Axel, and propelled backwards into a wall, knocking it down like it was Styrofoam. Keeping the points of the chakrams away from him, Marluxia pushed them away with his scythe hard, sending Axel flying back and away from him.

"It seems you're taking a huge gamble fighting us both Marluxia." Luxord murmured, appearing directly in front of the Graceful Assassin. Before Marluxia could lash at him however, a fireball the size of a trash can slammed into Marluxia, making him crash into the floor.

"BURN!" Marluxia's eyes snapped open and he rolled sharply to the left, feeling hot flames brush to his right. He reached out, his arm pointing at Axel.

"BLOSSOM STORM!"

Many razor sharp, pink, blossoms appeared at his fingertips, shooting off at Axel. The petals sliced Axel's cloak, sending the redhead crashing into a group of the security staff from the power of the hit. Spinning with his scythe, he turned to Luxord before the Gambler could vanish away again. "DEATHSCYTHE!" He roared, swinging his scythe down.

A brilliant slash of pink energy parted from his scythe, nailing Luxord across the chest and sending him sailing into another wall. The Gambler of Fate smashed into the wall, leaving a massive crack, and slid off of it, to the floor.

Both Nobodies didn't get up.

Panting, Marluxia regained his composure, before realizing a very important thing. His dark blue eyes slowly looked around, now noticing the large amount of people standing around them in a tight circle, all pointing guns at him.

"This is the Los Angeles Police Department! Drop your weapon!"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Marluxia didn't even understand _why_ he did it.

He could have left them both, and he would have gotten away smoothly.

So _WHY_ did he take them with?

"Un…" Luxord twitched, already starting to regain consciousness. Axel was sprawled behind the Gambler, a pink petal sticking out of his spiky hair, still out.

"Luxord." Marluxia said, not looking at him.

"Nn?"

"Luxord!"

The Nobody flicked his eyes open. "What-…Marluxia?"

"That's right." Marluxia still wasn't looking at him, much too preoccupied at the moment. "Before you ask: I didn't kill you or Axel because of the problem that we've seen already that's on the 'East Coast' and secondly-"

"Ow!" Luxord was suddenly flung sideways by some sort of force, plastered against a door.

"Because I still need to PUNISH you two properly!" Marluxia gripped the steering wheel and turned sharply, narrowly avoiding a police blockade on the road. Luxord's eyes widened when he saw what he was in.

"You STOLE a vehicle Marluxia?!"

"It's called a van, and yes, I did!" Marluxia swerved sharply again, making Luxord slam against the door again. "Now figure out a way on how we can lose the police!"

"What are you-ah!" Several small dime-sized holes zipped through the metal behind Luxord, missing Axel and zipping out the other side. The briefcase and duffle bag bounced around in the very back, the black briefcase hitting Axel's head repeatedly. Frowning, Luxord kicked the case away from the Flurry.

"My head…" Axel groaned, twitching slightly. His green eyes flicked open, slowly surveying the van. "What-? OW!" A bite of pain flashed through his arm, making him hiss.

"Get DOWN you idiots!" Marluxia shouted, his eyes kept on the road ahead. He swerved through the traffic, occasionally sending his petals at the pursuing officers. He frowned, muttering. "Need to lose them…"

More holes ripped through the van's think metal coating. Axel was checking where he felt the pain, only to see a small red and angry welt with a small flattened piece of metal that look like it had ALMOST broke the skin. He peeled the bullet off and flicked it away.

Luxord thought deeply on what he could possibly do to help. Marluxia sighed in frustration again, turning on another freeway, away from the middle of the city. "A little HELP would be useful right now-"

BLAM!

The back of the van violently shook, the entire vehicle rumbling and shaking. The speed they were initially going slowed tremendously. "What was that?!"

BLAM!

Another violent shake from the back of the van. Marluxia had to struggle with the wildly turning steering wheel, which was threatening to turn sharply to the left. "They must have blown out the tires!"

A growl of annoyance and frustration came from Marluxia, he wasn't very willing to fight an entire taskforce that upheld the law in 'Los Angeles'. His mind raced as another violent shake came from the front left side of the van.

He spotted something at the side of the road, his plan was a long shot, but he assumed that maybe it would work. He turned the wheel sharply to the left, veering off the freeway and down into a rundown part of the town, the van rolled and flipped from going down such a sharp angle, rolling down the evacuated street and stopping in front of an old, abandoned, building.

"Everyone out! Now!" Marluxia yelled, not fazed by the van's roll down the street. Axel groaned but stood up, looking almost frazzled. A bruise was developing from where the suitcase had decided to hit. Luxord stood up, brushing the dust on his undamaged suit off, picking up the bags.

Kicking out the door, the three Nobodies ran into the abandoned building and straight through, running through the rundown area until they saw cars and people. The area they were in now looked much more nicer than the rundown part they had been in. The roads were made of healthy black asphalt and trees dotted the side of the street. They immediately started to walk, looking casual and calm.

Luxord frowned at Axel, "It seems we will need provide you with much more inconspicuous clothing Axel."

The low sound of police sirens reached their ears. Nodding promptly in agreement, Marluxia shoved the two 'traitors' into a nearby store, called 'Wal-Mart'.

"Try and look casual." Marluxia hissed to the both of them, noticing several police cruisers zip down the street in front of the store. It didn't seem like they had spotted them, so perhaps it would be easier to get away…

Axel looked around, apparently bored. "So, since I didn't get an explanation earlier, where are we?"

Luxord rolled his eyes, "I'll explain that soon enough, for now, it's time for a change of wardrobe." He tugged the confused Flurry of Dancing Flames down towards the men's clothing section, followed closely by an annoyed Graceful Assassin.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Axel, there's a REASON that belts were made." Marluxia growled, restraining himself from ripping through Axel like tissue paper. He thrust a black belt in the Flurry's face, "Pants are made to stay UP, not fall DOWN."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Axel muttered, snatching the belt from Marluxia. "Still don't understand why we can't just go around in our-"

"We can't because we would be considered maniacal freaks with godlike strength and powers that defy all of their reality. As what Marluxia proved at the airport." Luxord said, smirking slightly. "After all, this society doesn't need to know that we really exist. People can't handle that kind of truth."

"Right." Axel rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe that no one figured out who we are yet."

Marluxia sighed, "That's how they cling to their reality. Not very open to change apparently."

Axel tightened the belt, looping it through the buckle. Afterwards he looked himself over. Unlike Marluxia and Luxord, who looked business-like, he wore tight-fitting black pants with a black and red flame-design shirt. His shoes were from a brand called 'converse', whatever that was, and were black. Luxord shoved Axel's cloak into the duffle bag, and zipped it shut. "There."

"Now we need to find ANOTHER city to create a portal in. Since AXEL had to use it up." Marluxia growled, glaring at the Flurry. Axel only smirked back.

"Well, why don't you just buy a map Marly? Or are you incapable of thinking things through as always?"

Before Marluxia could re-summon his scythe, Luxord stopped him. "We just lost the police, we have no need to begin fighting again just to flee." He said evenly, ignoring the glare Marluxia was giving him now. After a moment, the Graceful Assassin looked away, already planning how he would get back at the two later.

"Right then. Let's have a look around, perhaps we can find some helpful items around here." Luxord suggested, ignoring the looks both Marluxia and Axel were firing off at another. The three walked down aisles, completely unnoticed by a good amount of people. The only time someone kept a glance on them was due now to both Axel and Marluxia's vibrantly colored hair.

Their wanderings around the store only brought them a few necessities such as shampoo, conditioner, super-hold hair gel (for Axel), bathroom sundries, and a large Atlas of the 'United States'. They stopped by a section where many large television screens were sitting on high-placed shelves.

"I think that should be everything…" Luxord muttered, looking through the items. Marluxia leafed through the Atlas, seeing MANY cities that could be used to go to. He marveled over the miles that it took to GET from Los Angeles to any one of the cities however. Flying was obviously the fastest but Marluxia doubted that he'd get on a flight anytime soon due to his little mishap at the Los Angeles International Airport. He mused on ways to get from A to B without the use of airplanes, looking over a map of 'Washington'.

"Perhaps we can-" Marluxia started, but was stopped when a certain red-haired pyro thrust something directly into his face.

"LOOK AT THIS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS?!"

Adjusting his eyes, Marluxia saw that Axel was holding what appeared to be a video game, much like the ones he had back at the World That Never Was. Unlike the other games, the illustration on the front featured some very familiar people. He paled slightly. Somehow, being faced with a game that knew A LOT about one's existence was very unnerving to Marluxia.

"Kingdom Hearts Two?"

Luxord looked up in interest and snatched the game from Axel's hand. He looked it over, scanning the back and front. "Well I'll be." He said, eyes widening a fraction. "This is the game…" The Gambler of Fate glanced at Axel. "Where did you find this?"

"Some chick gave it to me after I found it in a case." Axel replied, his eyes stuck on the game. Marluxia noticed that there was some sort of _eagerness_ in his eyes.

"We'll need the gaming system and a television for this." Luxord said, handing the game back to Axel. "Perhaps a portable television, since we will be traveling."

In a flash of black and red, Axel took off, already turning a corner and going out of sight. Marluxia was mildly disturbed at the Flurry's behavior and turned to Luxord. "I assume in the year after my death, something must have happened to him, correct?"

Luxord nodded sagely, walking past the game cases. "Yes. Axel had betrayed the Organization, and as I believe, caused the entire collapse. He lead the Keybearer to the City, which he accessed the castle from there. Afterwards…we fell, one by one."

A smirk appeared on Marluxia's face. "_Axel_ was the traitor? Hmm."

"What is it?"

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Marluxia said dully, looking through the game case. "He betrayed everyone. To me, to Xemnas…" He trailed off, thinking. If Axel had betrayed everyone, how would they take it when they would see him again? A sadistic smile spread on his face, one that Luxord noticed immediately.

"Marluxia-"

"I wonder how Larxene and Saix would react to seeing him again." A sly look flashed through his eyes. He glanced at Luxord carelessly. "They would probably make my outburst look like mercy, no?"

"…Probably."

Smirking, Marluxia looked to a shelf by the case of games. A book particularly caught his eyes, one that had the Kingdom Hearts title on it. He plucked it from the shelf and read a few pages. Slowly, his sadistic smile came back. "I believe I've found Axel's punishment after all."

Luxord looked at him curiously. "Just what do you mean by that Marluxia?"

The Graceful Assassin showed him a certain page towards the front of the book, containing a picture of a blonde haired teenager and many boxes of statistics and numbers. "You said that Number Thirteen rejoined Sora."

"Yes…"

"If that's so, how much would you bet that he would be completely _crushed_ to see it happen again?"

"…That is very cruel Marluxia."

"Yes. I know."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Me:** And thus, Marluxia found the perfect payback to Axel. Forcing him to play KH2. Yes, I know, I totally owned Axel in this chapter, but that doesn't mean I don't like him. It means Marluxia HATES him, that's all.

Danny: Wow, cruel for the sake of cruel. I like it.

Random Moogle: Poor Axel. Ah well, here are the replies.

Replies to Reviews:

Aldalena: Hopefully the next Searchers chapter will. And yes, I love pokemon. I'm playing it right now actually, and I caught a SHINY! Yay! And yes I know, no Marluxia in that chapter. Amazing, no?

EliasDaemonwing: Yes. Yes he does. I LOVE writing for Kata, and as people can see, he has the (almost) same relationship to Reno like Saix has to Axel. Hehehe…

**mayaxya:** GAH! Okay, one, there is NO romance at ALL in this fic. Because Nobodies have no hearts, and thus do not love. HOWEVER, there will be OC's, that I will try to not make into Gary or Mary Stu's/Sues.

fire spirit: Totally correct! I'll get Random Moogle to give you a prize I guess.

Random Moogle: A basket of chocolate chip and oatmeal cyber cookies! (gives)

LKani-X: Thank you for your belief! And …I alarm u? …OMG! Hehehe, he alarmed me when I first saw him THAT is for sure! And I understand. I live in 100 degree heat all the time, so I stay inside. :D

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Random Moogle: So there we have it! Marluxia got himself in trouble at the Airport and is planning to put Axel through psychological pain. Next up is another Searchers chapter. Keep it real and review people!


	12. Deep Drive City

-1**Sahxyel:** Another Searchers chapter. Enough said. I call the city this since I always thought it was a cool name for it.

**Disclaimer Guy:** Wow, that was it? No own. So bite me.

**Deep Drive City**

Rain trickled down from the enormous buildings, the water rolling down drainpipes and into an unseen sewer underground. The metal grate in the Alley to Between clanged as a large group of people fell out of a strange, glowing portal only a few feet away. Above, lightning flashed from the dreary black clouds.

"Is THIS it?"

"Get OFF of me!"

"Ow!"

"Who's kicking me?!"

"Sorry, my bad…"

Ruaska pushed her way out of the pile, much too entranced by the city to get into a common squabble with the other Searchers. She really didn't care anymore. Instead, she looked around in pure fascination at the flickering neon lights and brick buildings. "So this is the Dark City."

"Actually, it's 'Deep Drive City' by the look of the sign right here." Reno said flatly, pointing to a bronze sign on the wall of a building, reading the words. Rolling his eyes, Kata shoved the redhead off and shakily stood up, leaning on his cane for support.

Caliber stood from the ground, looking around. He adjusted his spectacles. "Very interesting. A city devoid of people."

"But not of Heartless. We will have to be extremely careful." Kata said, gazing up at the sky. A grim look was on his face, the yellow wolf-like eyes distant for a brief moment.

Reno stood up, picking up the two large bags he had carried with him. "So, onward?"

"Yeah!" Jek pounced up, pulling the hood of his overlarge blue jacket up and over his head. Specks of dark blue shone on his jacket as more rain started to pour down. Frowning, Reno dug into one of the bags and withdrew a few umbrellas. He tossed one to each of the members of the Searchers before reaching in to get his own.

Popping out the umbrella, Ruaska watched as the rain dripped off of the umbrella. She sighed and tenderly walked out from the Alley, gazing around. Water pooled in puddles, dotting the smooth pavement. The street that lead into the city went through a darkened alley by the look of it.

The perfect breeding spot for a Heartless.

Elena walked up next to her, gazing around cautiously. "What kind of Heartless would hang around here?"

"Shadows, Mages, Wyverns, I wouldn't be surprised if a Behemoth was sleeping in that alley over there." Caliber said, quite unhelpfully. Color drained from Jek's face, as well as Reno's surprisingly. Rolling her eyes, Ruaska took a deep breath and stepped out of the Alley.

Black figures slowly rose from the floor, antennae twitching, yellow soulless eyes looking eagerly at the six that stood a few feet away. A scoff came from Reno, his cocky smirk returning quickly. "_Shadows_?" He whipped out a baton-like weapon from his belt, pressing a button on the side and sending sparks at the tiny Heartless. A few of them exploded into black mist while the others scampered away.

Wait, scampered away?

"That's weird, why did they…?" Ruaska frowned, watching the retreating Shadows scuffle into the dark alley. Reno put on a superior demeanor.

"They're all afraid of my mad skills yo!" He released the EMR's button and rested the end of it on his shoulder. A smirk appeared on his face, "They're all wimps-" He stopped suddenly, his smirk vanishing. While his EMR rested on one shoulder, something had draped a spiky 'arm' over his other shoulder. Kata turned to glare at Reno but suddenly stopped.

"Assassin." Kata growled, gripping his cane tightly. Caliber glanced at Reno and almost yelped at what he saw. Ruaska also turned, staring at what had approached Reno.

Behind the redhead stood a droopy man-like creature, with spiky and long arms that reached the floor from its shoulders. Its deadly sharp arms gently brushed the side of Reno's pale cheek, leaving a minor scratch but drew no blood.

"Uhh…I think we're in trouble." Jek squeaked, looking at the dark alley with fear. Ruaska spun around and saw three pink human-like creatures 'skate' out of the alley. It seemed as if they wore scarves and moved rather elegantly, almost as if they were-

"Dancers." Elena muttered, standing protectively in front of Jek. The young boy's eyes were wide with fascination and fear. He held his umbrella close, like it would have helped him if the need was dire. Ruaska gulped and looked around; more seemed to just appear from the shadows, these different from the two previous.

The new creature was incredibly bulky, brown in coloration. It shambled forward, relying on a massive weapon it held to support itself. Ruaska had the nasty feeling that it could have the power to smash any one of them into a pulpy mulch.

The other new creature was a dull pink color, with seemingly no head. It juggled back and forth from its non-existent hands what looked like cards. It hovered in the air next to the larger one.

"Berserker and Gambler." Kata backed away slightly, "Lower Class Nobodies."

"The ones that are controlled by the Organization?" Ruaska asked, her voice a little more than a breath. She moved slowly away from the advancing Nobodies. Kata nodded, also slowly backing away from them.

The Nobodies only moved forward, towards them. Reno was close to whimpering now, the Assassin's sharp spikes were only inches away from his neck. Jek was in the middle of the adults, who all were smashed into a tight circle by the oncoming Nobodies.

"Well, this is it. We come all this way, spend years looking for all of them, and what happens?" Caliber's voice was unusually high-pitched. "We get killed by their peons. Wonderful." Jek whimpered at Caliber's words, tears welling in his bright eyes. Elena only tensed when the Nobodies walked a step forward. Ruaska's throat grew dry; the Berserker was so close now it was almost painful. All it had to do was lift up the hammer-like object it held and slam it down.

"_**Master?**_"

Five pairs of eyes swiveled to Reno, who was frozen in fear and shock. The Assassin had released him, and kneeled, almost respectfully.

"_**Master…**_"

Ruaska looked to the other Nobodies, who all stood silently, before kneeling like the Assassin.

"Thank Kingdom Hearts." Ruaska sighed, feeling shaky. She looked to the others, who all had managed to calm down a little. Kata looked to the Berserker, his eyes narrowed, looking pensive.

"Hmm…" His eyes flashed, "Berserker!"

The Berserker flinched visibly, "_**Yes Master?**_"

"Why do you call me Master?"

The Berserker's voice, needless to say, sounded incredibly dim, like it had the brain the size of a peanut. "_**You have Master's Aura. You are Master.**_" Kata looked surprised, his grip on his cane relaxing slightly.

"We're THEIR masters?!" Caliber said incredulously, eyes wide. His glasses slid down his nose, to which he, annoyed, pushed them back up. The Gambler nodded respectfully to Caliber.

"_**Yes my Liege.**_" Unlike the Berserker, this one sounded much smarter and oddly enough, had a hint of an accent similar to Caliber's.

Jek's eyes widened, "Cool…So if they think we're their masters…which one of you listen to me?!"

The pink Dancers nodded, "_**We do Master.**_" They glided effortlessly towards the kid, only to be blocked by Elena, who seemed distrustful of the Nobodies. The feminine Nobodies stopped, but didn't proceed to tell Elena to move, almost visibly frightened of her.

"Huh?" Ruaska frowned, looking around. "Where are your leaders?"

"_**Right here.**_" The Gambler replied, "_**Do you wish for an escort?**_"

Caliber was quick to reply, "No thank you, we're quite-mmf!" Elena covered his mouth, glaring at him. Kata turned to the Gambler.

"We DO need some help reaching the Organization from here…and they can rid the Heartless in our path." He reasoned, glancing at the alley. Five pairs of yellow soulless eyes blinked at him, before quickly retreating. "Yes."

The Gambler and Berserker bowed, before turning to the dark alley and charging in, followed by the other Nobodies. Reno rubbed his neck.

"If they think we control them, then its like they think we're their REAL masters."

"Yes." Kata growled, "All of them are controlled by one of our Searched. And apparently, they listen to ranking."

Ruaska looked confused, frowning slightly. "But why did they listen to me? The notes back at the computer in Twilight Town said that Marluxia didn't control any lower class Nobodies."

Jek scratched his head, thinking hard. "Maybe its because he has as much power as the guy who founded the Organization…what was his name?" Jek snapped his fingers, "Xemnas!"

"Yes, it was recorded that Marluxia was leader of an outpost called 'Castle Oblivion'," Elena confirmed, nodding, "Larxene and Axel were also there…but…" She frowned, "They're never mentioned after the whole Castle Oblivion project. All it talks about is some kid called 'Sora'."

Kata snorted, "There may be another Searcher looking for Number Thirteen too; that Roxas kid. But we can worry about them later. First, we should get to that castle!" He limped into the alley.

Reno released a long breath, "That old guy is going to kill me someday." He hauled the bags up, holding the umbrella awkwardly and headed after him. Elena followed with Ruaska and Jek trailing behind.

True to their word, the Nobodies had done the job of clearing out all the Heartless. In fact, the Berserker had just smashed down its claymore into the last Shadow when Kata had limped into the alley. The Nobodies all left the alley, going on ahead and presumably to destroy more of the Heartless.

"Very nice service." Reno said, smirking, "I could get used to this."

"Somehow, the thought of you with something that will willingly do your bidding frightens me Reno." Ruaska said dryly, tugging the man's ponytail ever so slightly. A scowl immediately showed up on Reno's face, "Why you-!"

"YOU TWO STOP FIGHTING!" Both Reno and Ruaska jumped. Kata was glaring at them with his patented 'I-will-eat-you-if-you-don't-do-what-I-say' look. Both Jek and Elena looked away from the two, trying not to make eye contact. Caliber, on the other hand, was watching interestedly. "Both of you, always arguing and fighting, ever since we first found YOU Ruaska!" Reno almost smiled, but stopped upon seeing Kata's furious face. "And _YOU_ Reno…" His voice was dangerously soft. "Do you want a repeat of what happened in the White Room?"

Reno shook his head dumbly. Kata growled something under his breath and limped away. Jek blinked.

"That file on Saix said that he has anger problems. Do you think that he got it from Kata?"

"It'd make sense." Reno muttered, "That or the old guy's getting anxious."

"Anxious?" Elena asked, glancing at Reno curiously, "Why do you say that?"

"Think about it. He's going to meet the vestige of his son. That 'son' of his might not even recognize him. The guy's mental…like Kata." Reno frowned, "There's a chance that Ais will be long gone, replaced by Saix's personality."

That seemed to strike a chord in everyone. "Wow." Jek said sadly, looking at where Kata had left to. "So that's why he's so touchy?"

"I guess." Ruaska murmured. She looked up at the sky, thinking deeply. Closing her emerald eyes, she thought about it. What would she do if 'Marluxia' didn't recognize her? Just leave? After all the years for Searching for him, was it going to be in vain?

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

She clearly remembered the day when it happened; when the Heartless had invaded her home. It had originally been a wonderfully calm day. The sun was shining into the enclosed garden where she always went to meet him. The flowers were just blooming, the cold winter days long gone in place of the pleasant spring. And she had just returned from a long trip too…

They were sitting under his favorite tree, both enjoying each other's company and having a light wit contest. She had conceded, calling him a 'stinker' for winning so easily.

Now with new knowledge of the Heartless, Ruaska remembered what specie of Heartless attacked them. One was a Crimson Jazz, flaming every precious plant in the garden, along with the nasty Neoshadows.

Before he was Marluxia, the pink-haired Nobody was a Somebody by the name of Aluimar. Ruaska's heart ached whenever she thought of him, and how he had sacrificed his entire being to save her. He fought to the very second they pulled his heart from him, keeping her shielded from the black creatures until the moment he vanished completely in white and yellow sparkles of light.

Afterwards, she had no complete memory of what happened. The Heartless never seemed to get her, for she was engulfed with a bright light a moment after Aluimar had vanished. When she had awoken, it was in a peculiar flat located on the world of Traverse Town, owned by a man named Kata.

That was when she learned all about the Searchers. The Searchers were a group of people, dedicated to finding their lost saviors who had all, in coincidence, sacrificed themselves to protect the people who were in the Searchers. Eagerly, she joined, hoping to find Aluimar again.

Two years passed, along with plenty of heart-lifting or crushing information gathered from all sorts of sources. Although the people they Searched for were not the same, they were remnants of their existence. Kata believed that they were left as wandering spirits, ones that needed to be sought out for, so continued on, ignoring the more ominous signs. Ruaska followed, her heart still set on finding whatever shred of Aluimar that could still be existing.

Another year past, bringing her to Twilight Town, by then, everyone in the Searchers was present. Elena had been the last to join, and also the most helpful to find information. Soon, they discovered the ones sought for were in a group called Organization XIII, and were all classified as 'Nobodies'.

Now, here they were, in the middle of Deep Drive City, close to the Organization's hideout. And nothing but doubt in their minds. The Searchers and the protecting Nobodies had stopped in front of a large skyscraper, with mismatched television monitors on the very top. A plaza was in front of it, puddles dotting the dull ground this and there.

"What is this place?" Caliber wondered, stepping forward, looking up. The Gambler was quick to respond.

"_**It is Memory's Skyscraper, my liege.**_"

"Memory's Skyscraper, eh?" Kata said in his growl of a voice, looking at the skyscraper interestedly. "Why is it called that?"

Almost as if it was answering his question, the screens on the skyscraper flickered, before all going dark. Even the neon dimmed in the plaza.

"_**We do not know.**_"

On the screen, a number flickered on. It started on the roman numeral 'XIII', a circle around it, Like a hand of a clock, a line circled from the twelve o'clock mark until hitting it again, the number changing to a 'XII'. The Nobodies stood there, not even looking at the countdown. Ruaska noticed it was probably because the Nobodies did not have any visible eyes to watch it with.

Jek squealed, "It's coming on!" Indeed, the number flashed to 'I' before a white flash engulfed the screens. The six Searchers watched the monitors, ignoring the rain that was pouring down from the sky.

The screen flashed again, showing a pure white room. On the floor of the room was the massive symbol of the Organization, in an intricate design by the look of it. The camera shot spun down, before blacking out again.

"_Number Seven, what is your report?_" A voice came, booming over the plaza. A shiver ran through Ruaska's spine, the voice was deep and powerful, with a minor hint of malice. Another voice, much more quiet and reserved, responded to the first one.

"_Superior-_" Ruaska heard Kata suddenly gasp, "_The child is making his way into the castle, it won't be long now until he will arrive._"

"_Good._"

The screen flashed with brilliant light, revealing a blue haired man stare out of a wide and intricate window, outside of it contained a heart-shaped moon.

"Is that Saix?" Elena muttered under her breath to Ruaska. She only shrugged, staring at the screen.

"I suppose so…"

The screen kept on the Luna Diviner, before it faded out again. Kata waited, but instead heard a new voice, and immediately scowled.

"_Oh, you mean to use Sora and take over the Organization?_" The screen showed a scarily identical man to Reno pace in a white room, glaring at a figure who seemed to be too far away. Unlike Reno however, the man had shorter, spikier, hair with teardrop style tattoos underneath his eyes instead of slashes. "_Because that would make YOU the traitor, Marluxia, not me._"

Ruaska gasped, but the screen faded out. "Traitor?"

"That doesn't sound good." Jek said, frowning. "I think-" He stopped, another voice rippled through the air.

"_Let's see, if the subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true disposition….did they choose the wrong guy for THIS one…_" Ruaska saw Jek's eyes widen as the screen showed a man, who appeared similar to Jek, but had a mullet hairdo and somewhat jumpy disposition. He stood in a darkened cave, holding…an index card?

Reno snorted, but yelped when Jek kicked him in the shin. The redhead frowned at him, "What? He's a loser!"

"Jerk!" Jek kicked Reno's shin again, rearing back for another. Caliber tugged Jek away, before freezing to another sound.

"_Lets see if this Heartless is truly great enough to join our ranks._" The screen showed a clean-cut man now, who appeared to be standing on the deck of a very large ship. Like Caliber, he had the curious accent too. Behind him was a terrifying Heartless, who bore a slight resemblance to the Grim Reaper. Caliber shivered at the sight.

"Ludro would never…"

Reno looked at Caliber, "He isn't Ludro, yo." He said flatly. Caliber let his head hang, sighing deeply and sadly. The glasses were barely hanging on his nose.

Ruaska waited, staring at the black screen. Her eyes wide and hopeful, waiting.

"_The heart is a mysterious thing, Axel…but unlocking its secrets is the whole reason why we, the Organization, exist._"

She knew his voice was slightly different than Aluimar's, but she really didn't care. It was _him_! A small gasp escaped from her as the screen illuminated again, revealing the pink-haired Nobody, who was examining a rose in his hand rather than looking at the people he was addressing. The other two figures were very blurry, like they weren't even there in the first place.

Reno coughed something that suspiciously sounded like 'fruit'. Narrowing her eyes, Ruaska leaned down and whispered into Jek's ear. Jek nodded, turned, and kicked Reno again in the shin.

"OW-You little-!"

"SHUT UP!" Elena roared at Reno, looking very annoyed and angry at him. Above in the air, another voice sifted through the air.

"_But why were you treating him so courteously, Axel? __**I**__ would have kicked him around some more…_" The screen lit up, showing a blonde-haired Nobody, the only female in the Organization, lounging on a couch in some sort of white room. Ruaska couldn't help but wonder why the white rooms were featured so often.

"Marquis De Sade." Elena murmured, looking up at the screen. "She **did** have a knack for being sadistic…" Ruaska noticed that on the screen, Larxene was holding a book entitled 'Marquis De Sade'.

The screen blacked out completely again. Kata raised an eyebrow. "Why would the skyscraper show us such things?" He frowned, "We already know what we are Searching for."

"_**Keep watching Master.**_" The dim Berserker said, head bowed now. Ruaska felt an icy feeling hit her stomach. That did not bode well…

"_Kingdom Hearts…_" Saix's voice fluttered through the air, prompting everyone to look at the screen. Kata gasped loudly. Saix's voice was pained, hoarse, like he was hurt. His image didn't help much either. He was clutching his ribs with one hand, holding another out towards the heart-shaped moon outside the wide window.

"_Where is my heart?_"

In horror, the six Searchers watched the screen, which showed black particles rise for the seventh of the Organization, the Nobody fading from sight, until at last…

He was gone.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Me:** The Searchers arrived…a bit too late to see any of the Organization at the World That Never Was. This time period is about six months after the final events in KH2. I feel bad for all of them, really.

Danny: Sure you do. Anyway, here is Random Moogle for replies.

Replies to Reviews:

NanoMecka: Glad you did! I enjoyed writing it too. I've seen so many car chases, that it was virtually easy of me to write.

Zyler: Yo Zyler! What's up?! Hehehe…anyway, thank you for the review! At least I know you're still reading, so that's okay. And yes, Marluxia's adventure is a bit interesting, no? What with everything that's happened so far, Luxord and Axel would never survive without the homicidal leadership of a certain Graceful Assassin…

Moonshine's Guide: I forgive! I forgive! And yes, they will go to Chicago…after Hawaii and Seattle and Texas (don't ask). That will be one of my apex chapters where the leader of the Neophytes meet the leader of the Original Six. Hence, the Xemnas and Marluxia meeting. Oh heck yeah!

**mayaXa:** Okay then, I hope I can satisfy…

fire spirit: Yeah, I'll have fun writing all of the reactions to the beginning sequence. Marluxia's featured in THAT too! (That scene is so awesome for his coolness factor…)

Aldalena: Yep, that's the Organization for you! Not very organized…and yes he did. First was stab, second was slash. I should know, I played that game a bazillion times and read the manga too. 'Tis awesome. Just hope I can play the remake…

---

**Random Moogle:** Done! And the Pondering Writer will be gone on a two week hiatus due to a LONG family trip! Review people!


	13. RFN: Information Overload

-1**Danny:** Even if she's far away, she'll still write. Here is an RFN chapter.

**Disclaimer Guy:** Sahxyel can't own anything in this fiction. Sometimes, her brain is fictional too. But she owns that.

**RFN: Information Overload**

Marluxia lied on his slightly comfortable bed, reading the VERY interesting Strategy Guide to Kingdom Hearts II. In the connecting room to his, Axel was busily trying to connect his new and sleek Playstation 2 into the television's audio port.

Needless to say, there were many places the Nobodies had gone to in order to get as many helpful informational gathering objects as possible. The last thing Luxord had paid for were their connecting rooms in the hotel (called Comfort Suites if Marluxia remembered right). Putting the guide down, Marluxia flipped on the television, wondering if anything would capture his interest.

"-and we have just gotten confirmed reports of the attack on the Los Angeles International Airport. Footage is limited on the attackers, who are still at large in the Pasadena area." The screen was showing a white van speeding down a freeway, before it veered off of it and rolled down a decrepit part of the town. Three tiny figures exited from the van, one with eye-catching pink hair, while another with blazing red hair. The final was harder to see, but Marluxia was fairly sure he knew who it was.

"If you have any information leading to the capture of these dangerous men, please call-" Marluxia shut off the television, frowning. Dangerous was such a strong word, he wasn't aiming to hurt innocents…only Luxord and Axel.

He supposed that maybe people on Earth were more paranoid that mentally possible.

The 'click-clack' of the keys on a keyboard reached Marluxia's ears. He glanced at Luxord, who was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. He had purchased a portable computer, and was currently looking for more information on a strange program called the 'Internet'. The Gambler of Fate had spent more than three hours setting the entire system up, and was engulfed with the information at his fingertips.

A growl of frustration came from the connecting room, suggesting that Axel was starting to get fed up with the cords to the Playstation 2. Sighing, Marluxia got up from the bed and sauntered into the nearby room, peering in.

Axel grappled with the cords, shoving the television to the side to try and stick the audio plugs into the port at the very back. "Stupid, lousy, useless cords…" Axel muttered, plugging a cord in, and almost having the TV fall on him.

Marluxia was watching passively, not offering any help. Instead, he opened the strategy guide and continued to read the page he was on. So far, he had just reached the second chapter on Halloween Town, and was very interested on the chapter.

"THERE!" Axel shoved the TV back and flipped on the PS2, grabbing the Kingdom Hearts 2 case and pried it open. Wasting no time, he pressed the open button on the game console and placed the disc in the tray, shutting it carefully. He shot a glare at Marluxia, "Thanks for the help."

"It was no problem Axel." Marluxia replied, smirking slightly. Axel glared at him fiercely now, looking as if he would of enjoyed gutting the Graceful Assassin like a fish. Ignoring the glare, Marluxia sat in a chair, glancing up the screen. The screen currently was black, with the words: Square-Enix.

Axel didn't seem to care about it, rapidly smashing the X button, or trying the Start button to make it go faster. The screen slowly went through some odd legal information (Marluxia caught the words 'Disney' and Square-Enix again) before a soft tune hummed from the television.

For some odd reason, Marluxia found the music soothing and…familiar. Like it was a distant jingle he had heard so many times but could not remember where he heard it from. He glanced at Axel, and noticed the look of slow realization on the Flurry's face.

"Familiar tune?" Marluxia asked quietly, closing the strategy guide. Axel nodded slightly, listening to the music, even if the menu was on. Marluxia was sure, that if Luxord could hear it, he would have found it familiar too.

Axel checked to see if his red memory card was placed in the PS2 properly, before selecting the 'New Game' option.

"Need to pick up a few items, I'll be right back." Luxord poked his head into the room briefly from the doorway, strangely fixated on Marluxia. "You…did hear that news report Number XI?"

Marluxia nodded slowly. The Gambler of Fate stared at him for a moment longer before leaving, the door to the outside hall slamming shut within a second. Axel blinked, before shrugging and selecting his options for the game. The stats were left at stereo sound, vibration on, and on the hardest difficulty, or Proud mode. Satisfied, Axel pressed start.

"Axel, why do you always pick the hardest level first?" Marluxia asked, raising an eyebrow. Axel shrugged, but didn't answer him. The screen started to show more things, the title 'Kingdom Hearts 2' fading to a dark abyss.

"_A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory…_" Marluxia found the voice speaking slightly familiar, but Axel looked like he was hit by a train. "_A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream…_"

Marluxia wondered who it was for a brief moment…

"_I want to line the pieces up…yours and mine._"

Another song started up. Marluxia had no clue what song it was supposed to be, it didn't strike any familiarity into him. Axel seemed to remember it though and was watching the screen, entranced. The screen now showed…the Keybearer?

"Hmm…" Marluxia watched the progression of the introductory sequence, finding it partially confusing and yet informative. It was detailing most of Sora's first adventure, one that he had not heard of. Mostly it featured the Keybearer's friends, both from Destiny Islands and Disney Castle.

"Is that Xemnas?" Axel wondered aloud, watching the scene showing a man floating in front of a multicolored heart shaped portal. Marluxia didn't have a good look, since the screen flashed the picture away before he could properly see. Axel stared at the screen, "It looked like him…"

"But Xemnas didn't interfere with Sora like THAT. He'd wouldn't dress that strangely, and his hair did seem rather different." Marluxia noted, trying to remember what the man looked like. Axel sighed, rolling his eyes, before returning his attention to the screen. Now it showed Sora running up some phosphorescent stairs, attacking small Shadow Heartless, with Donald obliterating the rest with a well charged Thundaga spell. The music now was fast paced and upbeat, the screenshot zooming down an intricately designed hall and showed Sora looking around wildly, Keyblade in hand, with someone VERY familiar standing behind him a few feet away.

Both Marluxia and Axel gaped. It WAS Marluxia, standing in the middle of the large room, holding his scythe and apparently smirking. "That, I'll admit, is surreal." Axel noted, blinking and watching the screen flash to Sora fighting Marluxia to Riku fighting…Xemnas? Was it Xemnas?

Marluxia watched his rendered self seamlessly brush his scythe in front of him, deflecting a thrown Strike Raid, but the scene changed again. "I can't believe that."

"Yeah…why in Kingdom Hearts would they put you in the opening credits?" Axel said snidely, smirking. "It really is unbelievable!"

Marluxia narrowed his eyes at Axel again, starting to get fed up with the Flurry's disrespect. He would have summoned his scythe again, had it not been for a tiny voice nagging at the back of his mind. A replay of the incidents at LAX wouldn't be the best event at the moment. Instead he leaned back in his seat and watched the screen some more.

The screen now showed Sora plunging downwards and straight into the water. Again, Marluxia detected a sudden freeze in Axel's movements. On screen, Marluxia noticed the Sora wasn't falling downwards anymore, and instead was replaced with _Roxas_.

"Interesting…" Marluxia murmured, noticing the twitch Axel gave to his word. Smirking, Marluxia crossed his arms, " Axel, will we be reunited with our beloved Number XIII soon?"

Silence answered him. Much more satisfied, Marluxia returned his attention to the television. Roxas looked around on the screen and stepped forward, triggering hundreds of birds to fly off of whatever platform the Key of Destiny was standing on. When the screen zoomed out, much again to Marluxia's smug satisfaction, it depicted a picture of Sora, with his friends in circles around him.

Axel seemed to be carefully blank, not even glancing at Marluxia again.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Marluxia listened to the seventh time Axel sweared in mild satisfaction. So far, the Flurry of Dancing Flames had only gotten so far into the beginning portion of the game, now trying to earn enough munny to go to the beach. Currently, he had only played a few mini-games and had obtained only 60 munny.

"I'm trying something else." Axel growled, glaring at the tiny white ball at the screen. The Grandstand job obviously wasn't the best choice for Axel to play, despite his button-mashing tendencies.

"I'd suggest the Poster job, or the Mail Delivery." Marluxia said, looking up the section in his book. "One takes longer than the other, but if you perform it correctly the prize is 50 munny."

An hour of playing the beginning of KH2 had greatly cooled Marluxia and Axel's temper towards each other. Now Marluxia was trying to _help_ Axel get through it. By going faster it ensured MUCH more cut scenes and plot progression…

Other than the loud swears Axel made towards the 'Seifer' character and DiZ and the complaints about how it wasn't right, Marluxia thought Axel was enjoying the game so far. Axel was especially proud when he had beaten the Dusk to retrieve the pictures of Roxas. But, strangely enough, it seemed as if Axel was wary after every section of gameplay he finished. So in itself, Marluxia suspected that sooner or later Axel would have to stop playing.

And when that time would come, Marluxia would _relish_ making Axel play the rest of the introduction to the game.

But for the time being, the munny counter had to rise in order for that time to come. So, the two spent nearly an hour trying various jobs, and finally finding the most efficient one. The eight second time of the Mail Delivery added with the fifty munny built up fairly fast, and soon Axel had maxed out his munny counter.

As soon as that happened, Luxord returned. He chucked a bag at Marluxia, looking at him expectantly. "You know we cannot travel anywhere, Marluxia, after your escapade in the airport. I expect you know what to do." With that, Luxord left to the other room, shutting the door behind him.

Curious, Axel snatched the bag from Marluxia before he could react. He opened it, and a grin spread across his face, "Oh wow…" An evil grin replaced the amused one on his face, "Very nice Marluxia-"

Marluxia snatched the bag back and peered in. He immediately frowned. "No."

"You HAVE to Marluxia." Axel said, sneering. "You want to get off this world, right?"

A grumble came from Marluxia. Reluctantly, he took the bag and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Come ON Marluxia, I just want to see! Don't make me burn the door down!"

Marluxia hated life, or as he remembered what hate was. His pink hair was dulled to a chestnut color, not nearly as eye-catching as it was. He stared at his reflection for a long while. He had no idea whether he wanted to wash the horrible smelling dye out or leave and get tormented by Axel. Luxord at least had the tact to not hound him like Axel, but still…

"It's only temporary." He muttered to his reflection, trying to justify the situation to himself. With a heavy sigh, he summoned his scythe and opened the door, glaring as best as he could.

Axel's response was as Marluxia expected.

Although he said nothing, the jackal-like grin on Axel's face said it all. "Mar-"

The scythe swung, missing Axel's neck by a mere centimeter. Marluxia's look was bordering malevolent to homicidal. "You will shut up. You will NOT speak of my hair or I will personally make sure it is the LAST thing you do." Marluxia's eyes narrowed, "Do you understand Axel?"

"Crystal." Axel replied coolly, the grin still plastered onto his face. Slowly, Marluxia withdrew the scythe and stalked to the other side of the room, glaring at Axel still. Axel walked to his spot, sitting down and un-pausing the game. He was at Hayner, and finally forked all the munny over, resulting in an AP boost. Still, Marluxia didn't understand what importance AP had…

The screen cut to a scene, where everyone started to head into the Train Station. Marluxia watched interestedly, seeing a black-cloaked figure appear, obviously the one who made Roxas trip. The Nobody, Marluxia assumed, tugged Roxas off of the floor and said something to him, but the audio seemed to be out.

Axel again was tense, staring at the screen.

Luxord walked into the room, holding three sheets of paper. Marluxia glanced at the man wearily, "What now?"

"Tickets to our next destination." Luxord said, waving the papers. "A place called: Honolulu, Hawaii."

Marluxia raised an eyebrow, "Hawaii? That sounds familiar…"

Luxord nodded, "Perhaps a coincidence that the place is named similarly to the Hawaiian Island world. Or perhaps it IS the world." Luxord seemed to muse, but his train of thought was abruptly cut off.

"If it was the same world, then we would have been able to leave as soon as we showed up Luxord." Axel noted, somewhat scornfully. He had paused his game to look at the two. "It isn't the same."

"All the more reason to investigate this 'Hawaii'." Marluxia concluded, not looking at either of them, "If it is like the world, then we need not fear the possibility of not returning back to The World That Never Was." He stared out the window for a little while, before glancing at the two. "If not, there MUST be enough darkness there to create a portal."

It was silent for a long while. Axel suddenly looked to Luxord, "How're we GETTING there?"

Luxord just gave a small smile.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Marluxia tried VERY hard to remain inconspicuous to the surrounding people in the crowd. Luxord and Axel stood in line for the airline in front of him, but Marluxia was unfortunately stuck behind the two in line.

No one had readily noticed, or connected, Marluxia to the same man who had 'attacked' LAX a day prior, but he knew that someone would have to figure it out eventually. The only good thing was that hardly anyone paid much attention to him, now that his hair resembled a more brownish coloration rather than a pink color.

"I have to admit, your idea did have merit." Marluxia muttered lowly, so that only the Gambler of Fate heard him. The tenth of the Organization chuckled lightly, turning his head only slightly and giving a nod.

"My ideas tend to be of some degree of competence Number XI." He said smoothly, giving the boarding pass to the woman next to the entrance to the airplane. The woman stamped it and allowed Luxord on, before looking directly at Marluxia.

The Graceful Assassin held his breath.

"Boarding pass, sir?"

Slowly, Marluxia handed her the pass, a little stunned with his luck that had persisted throughout the entire airport. The woman nodded and allowed him through.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

In the airport security, two men in black suits watched the three Nobodies board the plane.

"How long will it be until the flight reaches Hawaii?" The first man asked, his voice a low rumble. Another man, who was watching flight monitors, flinched.

"I-It's hard to tell, it primarily depends on how well the flight is and with all those tropical storms in Honolulu-"

The second suited man raised a hand, silencing the third at the controls. "As long as we can isolate this threat before any more arise. The problem in the East is rising, and whatever we throw at them seems to not work." He frowned slightly, "The West is the only possibility for safety, and with the Hawaiian islands being far from the mainland, we can insure the people's safety."

The first man nodded, "One is already there, and three will accompany him."

The third man looked to his left a little, "What is so dangerous about all these men, are they terrorists?"

The second suited man walked swiftly out of the room without giving an answer. The first turned also.

"No, they are nobodies."

And with that, he left the security room. The man who watched the flight patterns blinked in confusion, before warily looking back at his screen.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** A little shorter than previous chapters. Bleh. First week back at school sucks. But I did this anyway! Rejoice and be merry! …Or not.

Danny: Anyway, little tidbits for the next chapter. Note that the men at the end mentioned that 'one is already there'. So, any guesses who could be at Hawaii? …If you don't know, you must be REALLY dense. Come on, WHO would hang out on an island that's on the Equator almost?!

Random Moogle: Danny, calm down! And the game is a side-note, yes Axel will be playing it and no, he didn't finish the Twilight Town level yet (the level is flipping LONG Kupo!).

Replies to Reviews:

LKani-X: Marluxia can drive, yes. I assume that someone in the organization has to know THAT ability. However, the truck in TWTNW…hmm, good point. Thank you for accepting the OC characters and the FF ones too!

Aldalena: Yup. Hawaii is first. Second is Seattle. And third is Texas (Houston). Fourth will be Chicago. Now. Hawaii, Washington, and Texas all have one Neophyte member that will show up. Can YOU match who goes where?

Moonshine's Guide: Gah, AKH is SO HARD to write! I HATE AGRABAH! …That world is an arse to write, I swear. X.x But anyway, thanks for the review!

EliasDaemonwing: Thanks. And by the way, I LOVE writing Kata and Reno's squabbles. Seriously. Ehehe.

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**Sahxyel:** That trip SUCKED. The only good this was Harry Potter, which I got in South Carolina! Awesome book. I love Snape now. Anyway, review and stuff my peeps! Next chapter is, you guessed it, a Searchers chapter!


	14. Emptiness

**Random Moogle:** Kupo! A Searchers Chapter! Enjoy everyone, since Sahxyel is tied up at the moment!

Danny: Doing homework…

**Disclaimer Guy:** The Searchers concept is owned by Sahxyel. Exclusively, so are Kata, Jek, Caliber, and Ruaska. Reno and Elena ARE owned by someone else, along with the other stuff in here.

**Emptiness**

Ruaska felt numb. Her eyes were glued on the screen, not even prying away from the flickering lights that illuminated the entire plaza. On-screen, the scene had changed to a red-haired man, lying in the middle of Betwixt and Between. He was staring upwards, particles floating upwards until he was gone from the entire picture.

Reno made no noise, didn't start, but his normally lax demeanor had totally vanished. Jek trembled next to the man, his eyes already welling with tears. "No…"

The screen flashed again, revealing the mullet-haired Organization member. He stumbled back, grimacing in pain, before the enormous Sitar he held disappeared from his grip. Demyx apparently wasn't expecting it, and gripped his head, yelling out in…anguish? He fell to his knees, and began to vanish, head hanging in either faux or actual emotion…it was hard to tell.

Ruaska tried to get Jek to come close to her, hopefully to comfort him. Without warning, Jek tore off to the other alley, the Dancers following him in pursuit. Ruaska made to go, but Elena stopped her.

"He needs some time." She said, her voice firm. Ruaska made to object, but her eyes inexplicitly drew back to the screen. Now it showed Luxord, the tenth of the Organization. Ruaska glanced at Caliber, to see that the man had blanched to a pale color. His umbrella was shaking in his grip, clattering along with the thick raindrops that hit the tarp.

Luxord threw his arms up, a wall of cards surrounding him. Ruaska's eyes widened upon seeing a flash of silver. A sharp weapon that she could not identify glared across the screen for a moment, slicing the card wall in half. The cards vanished. Luxord was still inside, and dropped to knee. The particles began to rise from him, wispy dark confetti lifting into the inky abyss of a sky above.

"A Key…a boy with a Key killed-…" Caliber's voice trailed off. His face shadowed, glasses barely resting on the tip of his nose.

Her heart beating quickly, Ruaska stared at the blackened screen. Everything inside of her was screaming to see Aluimar's Nobody, safe and somewhere else. The screen slowly started to illuminate. She immediately gasped.

Marluxia sat upon a monstrosity of a Nobody. It resembled nothing Ruaska had never seen before. It seemed to have scythes for arms, and wild black tendrils of darkness that trailed from the top of its 'head'. On the top of the Unidentifiable Nobody's head were a beautiful array of Sakura petals, surrounding the eleventh of the Organization. He seemed to be fine, luckily. Marluxia looked completely determined, if not a little tired-

_**SLASH!**_

The horrid sound of metal ripping something organic apart razed through Ruaska's head and through the entire plaza. The screen again showed a flash of silver, but this time, Ruaska could clearly see the key-shaped weapon for a brief moment in the white backdrop, before the colors resettled.

Marluxia was frozen, eyes wide and sprawled in the air. His eyes, painfully resembling Aluimar's deep blue hued ones, stared upward, almost dreamily as the particles arose from him. Her throat constricted, Ruaska couldn't breathe, as she watched the pink-haired Nobody vanish from existence.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The remaining Searchers stood in front of the now-vacant Castle That Never Was. The rain poured down, streaming in lines of fat water droplets. Everything was soaked, even the Moogle hologram near the aqua-colored bridge was holding a small black umbrella to escape such a deluge of rain. To the Searchers, it was like the sky itself was lamenting the loss of the Searched.

Reno stared up at the enormous castle, ignoring the rain that spattered over the bags he carried. Kata was staring at the tiny, demolished, heart-shaped moon that was almost regular sized and circular. Caliber stood, oddly silent, his shaking fit finally expired from his nerves. Elena stood near Caliber, looking at the man in a calm, yet understanding gaze.

Ruaska stood next to the entire group, a little separated from the rest, looking ahead at the entrance to the abandoned castle. She felt cold, numb, and empty, almost as if the fire of her life had been extinguished by a cruel Key-shaped weapon…

"Jek must have ran-…inside." Kata said, his voice now a low croak. The others nodded slowly, all looking at the castle, with the exception of Ruaska, who had already been staring at it. They all stood in the rain, the raindrops pounding on the black tarp of their umbrellas.

Slowly, Ruaska walked forward and across the bridge, leaving the others behind. Her thoughts traveled to the young boy, Jek, who normally was optimistic and happy, always the go-lucky one of the group. It seemed a crime to the world for showing the scene of Myde's Nobody's death to him…perhaps it was. The Skyscraper was questionably knowledgeable of the Organization, and the downfall.

It hurt too much to ponder on the building for too long. Her thoughts skipped back to Jek.

She knew he needed somebody. Regardless of what anyone else had to say.

The walk was long, it would be a while until she would make it to the entrance of the hovering castle. She didn't glance back to see if the others were following her; she had a good idea what they would have done. It was raining, they needed a place to stay, the castle would qualify as a place to stay for the night…then tomorrow…

What would they do? _Everything_ they did waited for the peak of finding the Nobody's stronghold. Now they were back at the nadir, with nothing left to keep their group together. "_I guess after tonight…we'll all go home._"

Another thought struck her; what about Jek? The boy's only family, as by what he told, was Myde. Now that he was gone, where could he go? The little boy had grown on her so much, she just couldn't bear the thought of leaving him to his own devices. The thought of Jek sitting on the bridge to the castle, watching everyone leave, crossed her mind. Ruaska shook the thought away, no one would **really** do that to him; Jek wouldn't be left behind.

"_Perhaps I can invite him back to my world…_" She mused. The dripping and thudding of raindrops stopped abruptly, prompting Ruaska to close the umbrella and shake it out. She had finally made it underneath the castle, to the point where the rain would no longer bother her.

She continued to walk, her mind eating away at wherever remnants of thought was left over in her head. Ruaska wondered about the others, her mind jumping away from Jek. "_Will Kata go back to his home too? What about Caliber, or Elena? …Reno might, I wouldn't be surprised if he did leave before anyone else._" Her caustic chain of thoughts afterwards ate up time, and soon her feet finally stepped onto a metallic floor.

"Hello?" Ruaska called, looking for any sign of a blue spot among the slivery-white. "Jek?"

No answer. Ruaska sighed and looked at the way to the next room. Wet puddles, probably from Jek's umbrella, dotted the floor, shining from the light that seemed to come from the ceiling. Ruaska stepped carefully around the puddles, and into the next area.

It was a curious room, with no other end. The walls were clear and glittery, and despite the small film of dust on the floor (marred by footprints it seemed) Ruaska would have said that it was sterile white.

Curious, she walked onto the platform, and immediately shook in surprise. The floor underneath her moved suddenly, going upwards quickly and at a sideways manner. She turned to where the doorway was to see a tiny plate affixed to the wall. In curvy, simple writing, the words 'Crooked Ascension' shone in the eerie light of the room.

**FSHWOOM! **

Three lances suddenly darted down from seemingly nowhere, embedding themselves all around Ruaska. She squeaked in surprise, but didn't get as far as that before something seemed to morph from out of the lance, spinning around until all three lances had owners…all of which had a dragon-like quality and tiny sets of wings upon their humanoid backs.

"**Who are you?**" The sharp, sinister, voice of one spat, pointing the spear directly at her. Ruaska's throat went dry.

"I-I, Ruaska." She said shortly, eyes upon the sharp points of the spear.

"**Are you with 'Master' Nine?**" It asked, not relenting with the spear. The second was staring at Ruaska for a long time, before shoving the first.

"**Idiot! It's Eleven!**"

"**Eleven?!**" The first one immediately lowered its spear. "**Apologies! I meant no disrespect to you Eleven!**"

Eleven…was it referring to Marluxia's Organization Number?

"**The lift has arrived Eleven! We apologize again for our ignorance!**" The three mysterious Nobodies vanished quickly, almost like they had wanted to leave as soon as possible. Puzzled and tired, Ruaska left the lift.

There was a small stairway that lead upwards, twisting around into an exit. The small railing, if one looked off, would reveal a grey and white expanse. The drop downwards, Ruaska suspected, was a good twenty or thirty stories down. Ignoring the drop, Ruaska climbed the stairs upward.

Another Moogle hologram sat at the top of the stairs, sitting upon one of the diamonds they used to communicating their customers anywhere in the universe. It looked up, "Oh! Hello, kupo!"

"Hello." Ruaska replied, her greeting sounding less than enthusiastic. Somehow the bright and cheerful Moogle did not cross well with her depressed mood and made her a little upset to have found it instead of Jek. "Have you seen a kid, about ten years old, run through here?"

"Yeah. He ran into the Hall of Empty Melodies a few minutes ago, kupo, and was running pretty fast so I couldn't speak with him."

Ruaska thanked the Moogle and quickly went up the stairs, opening the door and entering the hall. She stepped forward a few steps, observing the new room she entered.

It was very spacious and beautiful in its own way. Delicately wrought pieces of metal were attached above the doors of the room, bearing some resemblance to birds in flight. The symbol of the Organization also graced the hall; a reminder of the beings who had at once occupied the castle. A balcony on a higher level was also in eye-view, leading to another room.

Ruaska walked across the deep blue colored floor towards the other end, noting that Jek was not inside the Hall of Empty Melodies either. Briefly, she wondered who had decided the names to all the rooms inside the castle, noting that most of the names were peculiar and somewhat depressing.

The next area was named Naught's Skyway. It was official that whoever named the places in the castle had too much fun with a thesaurus and their own depression it seemed. Ruaska gave a deep sigh and started forward.

**FWSHOOM!**

Surprised, but not as nearly as she was before, Ruaska watched two Nobodies appear. These two new ones had dual swords, two sheathed behind their back while two in each hand. Luckily, they were considerably shorter than the previous ones.

"**State your purpose!**" One declared. Ruaska was starting to get exasperated and annoyed, "It's my own business, keep your noses out of it." She said before even realizing what she had spoken.

The first one looked to the second one and shrugged. The first one sheathed its other swords. "**Very well.**" They also vanished into thin air, keeping the path open for her. Ruaska quickly walked up the Skyway, reentering the Hall of Empty Melodies, seriously confused at the new Nobodies reaction to her caustic remark.

The walk now was shorter, and a very elegant view could be observed from the balcony. The glass window at the top of the Hall was accentuated nicely, to the point where the circular heart moon could be seen above. Ruaska stopped for a moment, looking up. How long had they been gone? The question had never crossed her mind, but now it had occurred to her.

"How long…?" She asked, her voice reverberating through the Hall. She did not hear any answer to her soft question. Downcast, she walked across the balcony and into the next room.

The walls were darker, and a gold plate was affixed to the immediate left of the door. "Proof of Existence…" She murmured. Ruaska felt the carved letters on the plate, and sighed sadly. If only they had arrived earlier, perhaps they could have stopped their deaths, or fading, whatever it was. Her fingers slipped away from the plate, not even marring the shiny gold. She turned her head.

The room was a little elevated, going upwards apparently. It was incredibly dark too. "Jek?" Ruaska called out. She listened for a moment, then heard a soft sniffle. Quickly, she headed up the ramp and into the room.

Ruaska REALLY wished she didn't.

It was a graveyard. The Proof of Existence was, in fact, a complete replica of a graveyard. Monuments ranging from II to XIII lined in rows from top to bottom, to at the top and going pyramid-style downwards. Almost every 'headstone' as Ruaska thought, were smashed to pieces, the rubble lied strewn across the floor. Underneath each headstone was a glowing pink plate, all with the exception of the XIII marked one, which was blue. Ruaska felt her throat grow painfully dry as she surveyed the room.

Jek sat in front of one particularly smashed site, staring at the glowing plate on the floor in front of it. Ruaska slowly approached him, keeping her eyes distinctly off the plate herself. "Jek?"

The kid sniffed, ducking his head so his hair would cover his face. He raised an arm, seemingly rubbing his eyes. "W-what Ruaska?" His voice was very tumultuous, threatening Jek's closeness to crying, or the aftermath of doing so.

Ruaska didn't answer immediately, not knowing how to talk to him. Instead, her eyes snagged upon the plate Jek was staring at.

The plate, although somewhat damaged, had the symbol of a sitar upon it. Underneath the symbol, in a rather rushed and overzealous engraving, were the words: The Melodious Nocturne.

"I saw Marluxia's plate." Jek noted quietly, his face still hidden by a veil of hair. "It's over there…" He pointed to his right. "Two down."

Hesitating, Ruaska looked to the second headstone area in the row. It was on the other side of the path that cut up the Proof of Existence right down the middle. She slowly proceeded forward, passing the plate on the ground which had the symbols of cards on it.

The plate she found shined in a dull pink, a scythe symbol prominently displayed. Underneath, unlike Demyx's plate, the engraving was by far much more neater and elegant, stating the title: The Graceful Assassin. Ruaska didn't even notice the chip in the plate, just staring at it.

Ruaska didn't understand why she felt even more depressed and hurt upon seeing the faded plate. She had seen Marluxia fade on screen, her eyes had confirmed it.

But the plate…it was different. She didn't know why a piece of tempered glass made her react this way, it was…weird.

The man she knew, he was gone. Everything tying his existence together was undone; his heart's location unknown, and his Nobody's being destroyed. She closed her eyes to stop oncoming tears; her heart twisting inside her chest painfully.

"_It's all over…_"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Havoc's Divide and Addled Impasse were the only rooms accessible from the Proof of Existence. Both were beautiful in their own ways. While Addled Impasse had a wide window, with intricate designs of metal and glass that twisted around, showing the heart-shaped moon, Havoc's Divide had a lovely balcony which the entire city could be surveyed.

It made Ruaska wonder what the other four rooms were like.

The other Searchers had made their ways to the Proof of Existence long after Ruaska had arrived there herself. Both she and Jek were calm when they arrived, all tears shed an hour previous. Actually, they both were trying to piece the headstones of the four remaining plots of the Neophytes, but had ended up with bits and pieces of rubble.

Currently, Kata was doing a thorough sweep of Addled Impasse. He had mentioned that perhaps the special rooms had more to them, and had even taken a Berserker Nobody with him to search for anything hidden.

Reno only had rolled his eyes and said that the man was in denial, along with everyone else. Ruaska WOULD have believed his indifferent attitude, if she hadn't of seen the look Reno had upon spying the crushed remains of the Flurry of Dancing Flames headstone.

Caliber had been sulking in Havoc's Divide, repeating to himself about 'that boy with the key did this.' over and over. As far as Ruaska knew, he still was there repeating himself.

Jek, interestingly enough, had been piecing together Demyx's headstone for the whole time. Unlike the stones that surrounded Marluxia and Larxene's plates, Demyx's plate was surrounded by fairly new broken rubble, along with Axel's plate. The headstone seemed to be making interesting progress, but was missing a vital chunk of rock. Jek rooted through the pile of remaining rubble to find the exact piece.

Elena had been studying the original Organization's plates, particularly the one with the incredibly broken plate. All that was left had an elegant and modern print, 'The Cloaked Schemer'.

And Ruaska herself…she had been getting more interested in the half-broken portal at the very bottom-right corner of the room. It was activated still, but not accessible. Whoever the 'Key of Destiny' was, they must have either destroyed the portal themselves or-

"Wait…" A sudden urgency flushed through Ruaska. "Key of Destiny…They all died because of some key…"

"What are you muttering about?" Reno's eyes shot to Ruaska, looking clearly annoyed.

Ruaska turned her head, "You remember the clips, right? All of them got destroyed by a key-like weapon. Come here and look at this member's title." It was more of a demand, and less of a request.

Although Reno refused to move, Elena had heard and came to see what exactly Ruaska was talking about. "The Key of Destiny?"

"Do you see what's on the plate?" Ruaska asked, her voice tight and firm. Elena eyed the plate, before frowning, "They look like-"

"Keys?" Jek had popped out of nowhere, looking down at the plate in confusion. "But…what does that mean?"

"It could mean multiple things." Reno's snide voice came, somewhere from behind the three. "Perhaps he killed them himself. Or maybe he just ditched and still is walking around somewhere." A snort followed up, "All we know is that whoever it was isn't here now."

Elena sighed in exasperation, turning her head to glare at Reno. "Can't you be optimistic for once?"

Reno looked pensive for a moment, "Hmm…nope." Turning on heel, Reno left the Proof with a swish of his ponytail. Jek stuck his tongue out at the man's back, then looked back to the blue plate. Ruaska noticed he was staring pretty hard at the portal.

"That's it!" Jek scampered to the rubble pile, tossing fruit-sized rocks over his shoulder. "No, no, no-"

"What are you doing?" Ruaska was purely puzzled, what was he so excited about?

Jek threw a few more rocks over his shoulder, then paused. "Is this it?" The kid scampered to the other end of the room, lining a peculiar piece of rock up to the headstone. A grin spread across Jek's face as it sat quite nicely in a peculiar spot. The piece of rubble seemed to reseal to the headstone, and glowed blue.

"Can you help me find the rest?" Jek asked, pointing to the headstone. "I KNOW the rest of it is in here!" Jek's aqua eyes shined with excitement, as if he knew it could be finished and done. Elena glanced at Ruaska. It wouldn't hurt to help, would it?

Slowly, Ruaska studied the headstone and went to the pile of rubble, sifting through the rocks. Jek sped much faster, his eyes bright in both concentration and excitement. Elena looked over the headstone carefully, judging every orifice the jagged edge contained.

They worked studiously, but miraculously, the headstone built up and up. Soon, all that was missing was the engraved roman numeral on the direct top of the headstone. Both Ruaska and Elena had to pick it up, since it WAS a very large piece. Jek sat back and watched, eyes still gleaming in excitement. They sat the final piece down and stepped away from the portal.

The warm blue glowed through the cracks of the large piece of rock, resealing it to the whole portal. It shined brilliantly for a moment, and then died down. The portal shined invitingly, much like the portals to Havoc's Divide and Addled Impasse did.

Without warning, Jek sped inside.

"Jek!" Before Ruaska even knew it, she sprinted after him, stepping through the cold portal. She appeared in a rather plain sort of room, with plenty of windows and even a grand fireplace in the middle of the room. The room was white, like the other rooms, but was furnished pleasantly. There was a couch up against a wall (slightly scorched) with a wide flat-screen television mounted on the opposite wall. There was a desk with tons of papers and pens littered upon it, and a worn swivel chair. Pinned on the wall closest to the portal back to the Proof was a calendar, stuck on the month 'September'. Various used Organization cloaks piled within an old laundry basket, obviously never been cleaned in a long while, next to a dart board with blackened darts, all stuck on the bulls-eye.

Jek looked around with interest at the room. "This place is a lot roomier than the other two, huh?"

Ruaska had to admit it was nicely commodious. None of the other rooms had a warmer feel to it quite like this one. She looked for the nameplate of the room, and found a faded bronze plate mounted on the wall. "Tranquil Sanctuary." She found the name oddly fitting.

"Ruaska!" Jek was immediately by her again, tugging her sleeve. "Look what I found on the desk!" He held in his other hand a picture frame and held it up to her. Ruaska took the frame from him and looked at the picture.

The picture featured an array of Organization members sitting in the exact same room, all doing different things. The blue haired Saix sat at a paperless desk, writing something very diligently while paying no mind to the photographer. Next to the desk was a fern that was absent from the room now, with the fronds of it tapping the Luna Diviner on the shoulder. Not too far away were both Marluxia and Axel, apparently amused by the whole affair with the plant. Demyx was sprawled on the couch, looking at the photographer with a brilliant smile, while Luxord sat on the other end of the couch, also looking at the photographer but had a slight smile instead. Larxene was at the dartboard, the darts frozen in the picture as little lightning bolts as she threw one.

Written on the photograph's frame, in a very crude engraving, were the words 'Neophytes'.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** I love showing the Organization as more than Heartless freaks. The news about that DS game, 358/2 Days has me HYPED. I would LOVE to play…Demyx. Yes, you heard me. Not Axel, Demyx. But if Marluxia is available I WILL pick him above all else. Yeah, I know that it's Roxas' game, but so what? You can pick any Org. member to play...at least that's what I heard anyway.

**Danny:** Right…well, let's just get the review replies over with…

Replies to Reviews

The Light's Refrain: Thanks! Yay! I finally finished this chapter! It was long, but oddly satisfying, so now I can finally work on the RFN segment! And maybe a special chapter concerning that picture in Roxas' room.

Moonshine's Guide: Nah, Xigbar is kicking in Miami. XD And AKH is getting a good boost because of my impatience to get to the 'Monstro' chapter. Funny thing is that Monstro isn't Monstro. I'm replacing that world with something else…a Disney-sponsored film that is made Anime-style! WHOO!

**AND THANK YOU TO:** EliasDaemonwing and Rambie! Thank you for your patronage!

**Random Moogle:** Now that is done, please review kupo!


	15. RFN: Failed Interrogation

**Sahxyel:** Hmm, I seem to be getting the same feedback for my previous chapter as being too emo. Repetitiveness and such. So, to make up for that, here is a chapter that shouldn't be either.

**Danny:** Apparently, your words hit home reviewers. She's striving to become a good writer and not make a sob story.

**Random Moogle:** Kupo!

**Disclaimer Guy**: Although she owns a new Wii console, Sahxyel doesn't own anything you see here.

**RFN: Failed Interrogation**

"I'll ask again. WHERE did you come from?" The man was beginning to become annoyed and exasperated. He had no idea anyone could be so frustratingly simple, but apparently he was wrong. The man sitting opposite of him at a steel table was currently more interested in what his gloves looked like, and was currently fiddling with them. "Well?"

"Umm, I don't know." He replied, his attention never wavering from the fabric of his gloves.

The Interrogator punched the table, his patience snapped like a pencil. "What do you mean YOU DON'T KNOW? You came out of our molecular transporter from a place entirely different to our own!" The Interrogator was sure that he was going to blow a blood vessel in his head.

The man only shrugged and looked up, away from his gloves.

The Interrogator took a deep breath, deciding to take a different approach. "What's your name?"

"Demyx." The answer stunned the Interrogator for a brief moment. What kind of name was 'Demyx'?! Well, it was an answer at least…

"Good. Now. Do you know these three men?" The Interrogator reached into his jacket, withdrawing a photograph of three men in differing attire standing in an airport. One had flaming red hair, and was very lanky, sporting a very casual set of clothes that seemed to have a common theme color of red and black. Another had surprisingly pink hair, wore a slightly more dignified black suit with a pink dress shirt (undoubtedly to match his hair), and seemed to be annoyed in the picture. The final had a normal blonde hair color, and seemed the only one not conspicuous, wearing a very standard business suit, black. The Interrogator placed the picture on the table, in which the younger male took it and scanned it over. A grin spread across his face.

"Alright! Marluxia, Axel, and Luxord are here!" He said in a chipper voice, putting the picture back. He looked around, eyes scanning the room curiously "Are they 'here' here?"

"They will be in a few moments. My colleagues are transporting them here." The Interrogator took the picture back and crossed his arms. Time to try a different question. "Now. What are you?"

"A Nobody." It was a simple enough answer, but it made the Interrogator blink.

"A…Nobody?" He looked skeptical, leaning forward slightly in his seat. "And that is…?"

Demyx scratched his head, frowning slightly. "Zexion told me once, but I don't think it's true. Supposedly a Nobody is a being that doesn't have a heart, but that can't be true because we FEEL things sometimes, like when I was doing a mission one time and I KNOW I felt afraid when that huge dog came at me with HUGE teeth-"

The Interrogator's eye twitched noticeably, making Demyx stop his ranting. "Hey! Do you have a muscle-spasm disease? I think it's contagious actually, because a lot of people I hang around do that-"

"I can't imagine why." The Interrogator said through gritted teeth, his eye twitching only gaining more power. "Who's Zexion?"

Demyx blinked, "Zexion? …Oh, right, you don't know who he is. He's my superior, Number VI in the Organization." A flicker of something flashed through the young man's eyes, but before the Interrogator could have a good look, the betrayal of emotion was gone.

The Interrogator sighed in relief, finally he was making headway! "The Organization?"

"We're called Organization XIII, and all of us are Nobodies." Demyx explained, "We were collecting hearts to making our own Kingdom Hearts to get our own hearts back, but I didn't get to stay around to see it." He looked considerably put-out, a slight pout visible while greenish-blue eyes diverted away from the Interrogator.

The Interrogator was slightly mortified, collecting HEARTS? Either this group, this Organization, was some sort of organ harvesting party for the black market, or there was something more sinister, more darker than what the Interrogator could imagine. He decided to push the subject. "Why not?"

"I died." Demyx's eyes never blinked, not indicating any sort of lie. His voice was light, like he had told the Interrogator what cereal he preferred, but had an edge of seriousness that clashed viciously with the carefree attitude of the young man.

The silence in the room was deafening. Slowly, the Interrogator got up from his seat, went to the steel door on the other side of the room, opened the door with a key card, and left. Demyx waved, "Okay, see ya later!" He chirruped, immediately smiling.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Marluxia decided he disliked airplane rides, especially ones in which took hours upon hours to reach a certain destination. He had been stuck in the aisle seat and had been constantly woken up or annoyed by passer-bys that were trying to reach the lavatory or some bag that had been placed in the overhead storage bin. Needless to say, when the plane finally touched down at Honolulu, Marluxia was tired and irked, wanting nothing more than to create a portal and leave the forsaken world as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, there was a minor problem.

"Do you sense any darkness…at all?" Marluxia grounded out, trying desperately to not lose his sanity for the third time. Axel looked around, and dropped his bag.

"Nope."

"There probably was some here at one time." Luxord said, musing over the 'no-darkness' conundrum. "I sense the ethereal darkness, and it does seem that at one time it was fairly dense…"

Marluxia's eye twitched, "But it isn't here now, is it?"

Luxord was about to answer, but stopped short, noticing the murderous look on Marluxia's face. "Why don't we just get on the next flight back?" Luxord suggested in a light tone, hoping it would quell Marluxia's apparent mood.

Apparently it seemed to have worked, since Marluxia only degraded himself to growl obscenities ever other second. "I swear when I get off this world, I will send EVERY Neoshadow I find at Memory's Skyscraper STRAIGHT HERE." Marluxia's eyes twitched slightly, but he oddly found comfort in the idea. Soon after more fantasies of the world engulfed by squirming black Shadows, Marluxia became completely relaxed.

Axel and Luxord kept a very respectful distance from Marluxia afterwards, both wary at how fast the Graceful Assassin was able to calm down.

Before the three could even reach the ticket counter, they were abruptly stopped by three men in black suits, all of whom had slicked back hair with an either brown-red, black, or blonde hair color. Peculiar devices were stuck within their left ears, and all sported a pair of black shades. "Excuse us." The man with black hair started, blocking Marluxia's path. Both were about the same height, except that the suited man seemed more toned than the Graceful Assassin. "But you three gentlemen need to come with us."

Marluxia was still recovering from his close call to a rage attack, so his eye gave a very distinctive twitch. "Why? Listen, we are trying to catch the next flight off this forsaken island, so I SUGGEST you three get out of my way. Now."

The man to the left of the black haired one whipped out a wallet, revealing a photo I.D with a distinctive hunk of metal on the other end. "We're with the FBI."

Before Marluxia could reply with something uncharacteristically uncouth, Luxord posed a question. "The FBI? And why would you be needing our presence?" Axel, for the most part, stayed silent. His wary eyes were upon Marluxia, who was still apparently close to having a spaz attack like in the Los Angeles International Airport. People began to stare at the strange sight occurring in the middle of the airport.

"We work for the government of the United States of America, in the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The blonde haired man said plainly. He reached into his suit, withdrawing a single photograph, showing it to the group of Nobodies. "Do you know this man?"

Marluxia, Axel, and Luxord all took a glance at the picture, and all immediately deadpanned. "Demyx." Marluxia muttered, immediately recognizing the dirty-blonde mullet and the traditional Organization wear.

"I wonder why he was doing that in the picture…" Axel mused, looking at the photograph closely. "Did you guys make him?"

The blonde haired man slipped the photo away. "No, he got bored after a while and decided to sit still himself."

Luxord looked honestly surprised. "Amazing."

"Yes, well, why do you have Demyx's picture?" Marluxia asked suspiciously, "Are you detaining him AGAINST his will?"

The black haired man stayed calm and cool, "No, he is under our jurisdiction for emerging from a Class Thirteen machine." The man suddenly seemed a little angry, his eyes flashing dangerously. "And the two other machines must have allowed all of you in too."

"We have a policy against threats to our country." The brown-red head said ominously. Marluxia tensed, now things were hostile? "The mysterious weather in New York, and the surprise attack on an airport in Los Angeles…we can't have any more scares to the public you understand." Marluxia wondered briefly why they were so concerned about the little incident at LA, considering he had not hurt anyone innocent during his little fight with Axel and Luxord.

Luxord's smirked good-naturedly, "I don't suppose you gentlemen know what you are dealing with." Marluxia remained silent, restraining the urge to decapitate something. "If you are suggesting that we will willingly leave with you, then you are sadly mistaken."

Axel acted spontaneously. Fire flared from his hands, knocking the suited men back. The fire was unlike other kinds, burning the airport carpeted floor and causing a good amount of acrid black smoke. Marluxia held his bag tightly and tore down the airport terminal with Axel and Luxord, leaving the suited FBI members back, along with a bewildered group of witnesses.

"So what's the plan now?!" Axel shouted, turning a corner, neck and neck with Marluxia as they sped to the exit. Luxord was slightly slower than the two, but was trailing behind by a foot. Marluxia glanced at Axel briefly, swinging the door open. "We get Demyx and get off this island."

"Why can't we just leave him?!"

Marluxia's eyes steeled, "_Because_ I said so."

And with that, the three Nobodies vanished into a crowd of tourists.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Demyx, honestly, was bored out of his mind. The men who helped him after he emerged from a weird portal-thingy had taken him to the place he was in now. And for some reason they locked the door. He supposed the men were a little surprised he came from the portal, and they constantly kept asking about the Organization after he let it slip to them earlier.

The Melodious Nocturne was not an idiot, but his training under the best interrogator in the Organization (Zexion) had taught him that in case he was ever drilled for information he was to act clueless and idiotic. So far, Demyx hadn't revealed anything too deep but was considering it. What was it to him if he spilled his guts? He was technically supposed to be dead, but he was alive in the strange world along with Marluxia, Axel, and Luxord. It was a win, right? No Xemnas or Saix to turn him into a Dusk for revealing classified information, THAT was good, wasn't it?

Sighing and kicking his feet onto the stainless steel table, Demyx stared at the ceiling. "What should I do?" The better sense of him was urging him, strongly, to summon his sitar and bust out. But the problem with that plan was the fact that Demyx could not portal. At all. Which was bad.

He sighed and brushed a hand through his mullet, frowning slightly.

The door opened, allowing the interrogator from earlier to enter. The brown hair of the man was slicked back, and his glasses were still on. He sat in the chair across from Demyx at the table and seemed to stare at him. Demyx started to fidget. He never did like being observed, it made him feel like a freak.

"_But you ARE a freak…_" The tiny voice at the back of Demyx's mind murmured. Demyx pointedly ignored the voice, and cleared his throat. "What do you want now?"

"I want you to tell me what a Nobody is. Your special abilities and such." The man said.

Demyx didn't see anything wrong with telling him anything pertaining to that. "Well, a Nobody is a being with no heart…I guess." Demyx shrugged, "We technically don't exist but we do, it's something called a paradox. Anyway, we usually have special powers that are elemental."

"Powers?" The man arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, like I control water." Demyx explained, "And we have this weird stamina thing, we could get stabbed or something and it wouldn't be fatal."

The man was quiet, and Demyx suspected he was digesting the information or simply didn't believe him. Slowly, the man drummed his fingers on the table. "Can you show me your 'power'?"

"Huh?" Demyx blinked, honestly expecting the man to change the subject. He believed him? "Uhh, sure…" Demyx stood from his seat and took a couple steps away from the table. He took a deep breath and concentrated. In a fine spray of water droplets, the familiar sitar appeared in Demyx's hand, almost as tall as he was and still in marvelous condition.

The interrogator's mouth dropped. "Oh my god." He whispered, his voice a mere tremor of sound.

"See? I use a sitar to kinda control water." Demyx explained, testing the chords to see if it was in tune. Luckily, it was. "Alright! Now…" Demyx strummed a cheery tune, causing a large basketball sized water droplet materialize in the air. It formed into a bird that flew around the room, and landed upon the table, apparently preening its aqueous feathers.

The man's mouth was still hanging open in shock. Dumbfounded would have been a better description.

Demyx allowed the music to stop, causing the bird to dissolve into a puddle onto the table. Dismissing his sitar, Demyx plopped back into his chair. "And that's about it."

The man raced out of the room as fast as he could. The door swung into place, the lock clicking softly.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Government facility." Axel read, examining a sign posted on a fence. The interior of the fenced area was a large concrete building, with trees and foliage that tried to camouflage it, but failed badly. "Do Not Enter. Hm, how many times have I seen signs like THESE before?" He chuckled humorlessly and looked to the building, his green eyes already taking in every aspect of the grounds.

Marluxia carefully studied the surroundings, making a point to ignore Axel's slightly demented smirk that was slowly creeping over the Flurry's face. There were large trees, short trees, ferns, and varieties of multi-colored flowers. The fact that they were surrounded by such a boon of flora boosted Marluxia's spirit considerably. The fence would be no problem to overcome, and the trees and foliage would effectively keep the guards busy for a good while.

Above, dark clouds bloated with water hid the sun. The shadow cast from it darkened the area considerably well. All the more advantage to the small group of Nobodies.

Luxord stepped through a particularly dense growth of plants, smirking slightly. "There are a least seven guards outside. Inside, I only detected ten." He was messing with his deck of cards, invariably pleased with himself.

Marluxia nodded, "Seventeen should be no problem." Others probably would have been daunted by such a large number of guards, but the Graceful Assassin had single-handedly made an entire world engulf with Heartless in a matter of minutes. This challenge was almost laughably easy compared to his old missions from the Organization. The help from Axel and Luxord made it only easier, if anything.

"Axel, if you will begin?" Marluxia asked, glancing at the Flurry of Dancing Flames. One of Axel's chakrams appeared, and in a combination of fire and metal, the chain-link fence melted like chocolate. Sighing, Axel twirled the weapon between his fingers, a slight smirk apparent on his face. "Is it _supposed_ to be this easy?"

Sirens blared loudly as soon as the three Nobodies stepped inside. Almost casually, the three watched as men in black ran over towards them. Marluxia yawned, waving his arm through the air gracefully.

**SLAM!**

Tree branches swung down at the oncoming men, slamming them into the building like flies. Vines crept up from the ground and held the men in place, their weapons taken and piled underneath a dark briar bush. Sharp spikes glistened from the bush, keeping the weapons from being retrieved if the men ever got out of their confines. Lazily, Marluxia strode across the grass with Axel and Luxord in tow. They approached the door to the outpost with no problem whatsoever. So far, so VERY good.

Luxord stepped forward, taking the Ace of Spades from his card deck. Easily, he slipped the card through the card-slot next to the door. The keypad fizzled loudly, numbers flashing across the screen in glowing numerical forms. Patiently, the three waited until finally, the door slid open obediently.

Smirking, Luxord slipped the card back into his deck. Marluxia raised an eyebrow, "As long as I breathe, I will never understand how you do that."

"Never you will, now, onwards?" Luxord asked pleasantly, ignoring the oncoming guards from the inside. A second chakram and a pink scythe appeared in their owners grasp as they continued inward, each of them equally amused and bored at the infiltration.

Bullets flew, but were easily swatted away by a perfectly timed swinging of metal. While Axel's chakrams protected his own being, Marluxia had the task of protecting Luxord and himself for the time of three minutes. Luxord took a pair of dice from one of his pockets and tossed them to the floor.

The dice landed on the floor, growing in size until they were half the size of the hallway. Both Marluxia and Axel leaped out of the dice's way as the cubes rolled on by, bulldozing through the guards and clearing a path. The guards fell unconscious upon impact of the dice.

Marluxia sighed, "World domination would be too easy."

"It's not much a challenge; why waste the effort?" Luxord questioned, nonplussed. Axel only rolled his eyes and continued onward, Marluxia followed him and kept a good grip on his scythe. They didn't have to walk for long before finding a door marked 'Containment'. Again, the door was locked with a key card slot.

Before Luxord could even pull a card from his deck, Marluxia quickly jammed the blade of his scythe into the crack of the door, then ripped it away quickly, twisting the weapon at the exact same time.

POP!

The door snapped out of its locked position, the metal links and bars ripped from their foundation in the wall. The door was wide open now, leaning against the wall, only held to the doorframe by two hinges with stripped screws.

Demyx suddenly poked his head from out of the room, grinning broadly. "Hey guys! I wondered when I'd see you!" Awkwardly, the Melodious Nocturne left the room and glanced about. He seemed to be impressed. "Nice."

"Indeed." Marluxia said dryly, a slight smirk apparent. "Although judging the difficulty it took to reach you Demyx, I assume that even you could have left this place on your own accord."

"Yeah, well, about THAT…" Demyx rubbed the back of his neck. "I sorta…can't make…a…portal." He looked sheepish. "If I could, I would've left hours ago! You guys have NO idea how boring and uptight everyone here is-!" Demyx stopped himself from talking and blinked. "Hey, why aren't we laving now?"

"We can't." Axel said plainly, twirling a chakram casually between his fingers.

"None of us can create a portal either, Demyx." Marluxia said, frowning slightly. "The portals require some outside source of darkness…and unfortunately, this island we're on now is woefully lacking in darkness." The curiosity of the darkness conundrum lead Marluxia's mind to a more immediate problem. How were they going to get to another location now?

Demyx's eyes were wide, "We're on an island?!"

"And pursued by the government that runs the whole place, obviously." Marluxia added on dully, "Of course, we took care of everyone here-"

"There they are!"

Whizzing bullets grazed the four, one finding a mark on Luxord's shoulder. The aforementioned Gambler of Fate grimaced and spun around. With an unpleasant realization, Marluxia turned also.

The hall, from at least a few feet away, was full of armored soldiers donned in deep green and holding large black guns. The front row were firing at the four of them fiercely, and Marluxia felt the biting sting as several bullets pelted his chest before dropping off of him, just dull pieces of metal.

Although discomforting, the rain of bullets slowly stopped. And to the very obvious shock of the soldiers, the men standing in front of them were unharmed, and still armed with VERY dangerous weapons. The worse thing was that now, all of them were only a LITTLE annoyed and angry now.

Before Marluxia could even move to swing his scythe at the nearest soldier, a gigantic wall of water exploded from the ground and rushed at the soldiers powerfully, sweeping the assorted people down the hall and around the corner like a makeshift broom. Marluxia heard the delicate hum of Demyx's sitar and smirked slightly.

"THAT was annoying." Demyx frowned and stopped playing his sitar. "I mean, it was just so rude! They didn't even talk to us; only shoot!"

"Get used to it." Luxord said sharply. Marluxia sighed, but caught a faint glimmer in the corner of his eyes. Something shiny lied atop of the wet tile where the soldiers were previously. Curious, Marluxia walked to the object and picked it off the floor. It was a tiny key with a card attached to it, the key glittering silver while the card only held the numbers: 18-2346.

Marluxia pocketed the key, knowing from previous mission to other worlds that items like keys were helpful in situations later, and looked back towards the end of the hall. It wouldn't be long until more soldiers would come…and there would be people out in the front.

Oh well, that was what scythes, chakrams, magical cards and sitars, were for.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Okay, MAYBE it wasn't as easy as Marluxia thought.

Whatever the military operation was using had changed weapons, from standard issue guns to high-powered rifles and such. Men were equipped with flamethrowers and poisonous darts that had inconveniently found Luxord as a target. Currently, the Gambler of Fate was snoozing big time, knocked unconscious from the dart.

Another volley of sleeper darts whizzed straight at their hide-out (in a shed outside of the building) and punctured tiny holes through the wood, ending up stuck in the ground a mere two inches where Demyx was standing. "Ah! They almost hit me!" He yelped, clutching his sitar like it would save him from such a fate.

"Just keep fighting Demyx!" Marluxia growled. He snapped his fingers, calling more vines and razor-like petals to attack, but unfortunately the flamethrowers quickly toasted Marluxia's plants in a matter of moments. He scowled and ducked again, bullets raced over his head and through the other side of the shed.

"We can't keep fighting them!" Axel snapped, sending flames at onrushing would-be intruders. The flames quickly made the people perform the basic 'stop-drop-and roll' maneuver, abandoning the attempt of getting close to the shed. "You're useless and Luxord's out of it! We need to get out of here!"

Marluxia glared at Axel, unwilling to let the redhead's truth sink in. He turned to think, they needed a quick and sufficient getaway, without being caught…But they couldn't exactly leave the shed easily. He glanced down at the wriggling vines that sat obediently at his feet. How easy would it be it they could travel just like the vines? Surely, traveling underground had merits-

Wait…

Marluxia snapped his fingers, and the ground churned underneath the four Nobodies. Before anyone could utter a word, a large hole opened up, allowing them to drop down. Above, more bullets fired through the shed wickedly, making holes within the old wood.

Axel was confused for a moment, looking up at where he was. "How-…?" He looked forward and saw wriggling green vines churn in the dirt nearby, creating a large tunnel. "Huh."

"Cool!" Demyx grinned, dismissing his sitar at once. "Where's it going though?"

"Anywhere AWAY from here." Marluxia said. He walked into the tunnel, with Axel following cautiously.

Demyx blinked, then looked to Luxord's snoozing form. "What about Luxord?" He called out, but the two were too far in to be seen. Lazily, two deep green vines came from the ceiling of the tunnel and wrapped around Luxord's arms, hoisting him up and dragging him down the tunnel. Demyx stared, but followed. Behind them, thick vines twisted again, collapsing the entrance to the Nobodies escape tunnel.

They hadn't walked for very long before the tunnel began to take an incline upwards, breaking through the topsoil very near the military building. Marluxia didn't hesitate, immediately walking into the jungle-like growth of plants nearby. Axel followed suit, as did Demyx, while the deep green vines carried Luxord out of the tunnel and after them.

Marluxia scanned the area. There were many people stationed at the shed, still firing bullets at it and such. There were some vehicles that they could use to leave and-Hello!

A large helicopter sat on a landing pad not that far away. It was pure black with razor-like propellers, and was completely empty. Soldiers stood guard outside but that would be a situation easily remedied. It would be perfect for escape…but there was a minor problem. He didn't KNOW how to fly a helicopter. Driving a car? Sure, he could do that. Navigating a gummi ship? Yes, definitely. But a helicopter was a different matter.

Maybe it wouldn't be that hard to fly.

Motioning for everyone to follow, Marluxia dismissed his scythe and snapped his fingers. Vines came from the ground underneath the soldier and pulled them down firmly into the dirt, weapons again taken forcibly. Quickly and stealthily, Marluxia hurried to the copter and climbed in, finding that it was pleasantly large and accommodating.

Axel climbed in second, plopping into the co-pilot seat. "Great idea, you know how to fly?"

Marluxia didn't answer, instead allowing Demyx and Luxord room to get them inside too. Surprisingly, there was still room within the copter after everyone was seated. Marluxia pulled the key from his pocket and stuck it into the slot, a cool voice came from the helicopter itself, spreading through the cockpit.

"Welcome, please input security code."

"Security code?" Marluxia muttered, thinking quickly. He noticed the tag attached to the key again and ripped it off. He looked for a keyboard on the dash in front of him and quickly found it, typing in the numbers. 18-2346.

"Thank you. Initiating."

Nothing seemed to be happening. Marluxia heard a growl of frustration from Axel. "You DON'T know how to fly it?!"

"No."

The Flurry grumbled underneath his breath and pressed various buttons and flipped switches. Marluxia turned to yell at him to stop before they attracted attention-

WHHHHIIIRRRRR…

Did it just start?

Axel flipped more switches and took the controls, looking absolutely peeved. "Next time you decide to take something, know how to drive it first!" Slowly the helicopter began to rise, and the soldiers began to run towards them, forsaking the empty shed.

Before they got even near, Marluxia shot a bunch of flower petals at them, making the soldiers hit the ground. The helicopter rose even higher…

"Let's get out stuff and leave." Marluxia shouted over the roaring blades of the helicopter. Axel flipped a switch, and suddenly it was all quiet. The blades were still moving, but there was no more sound.

"Nice, this must be a stealth copter." Axel grinned. "So, go and get our stuff? Got it."

Marluxia just stared at him, "How is it that you have no clue how to drive a car, but when it comes to a helicopter, you're suddenly an expert?"

"What can I say? I've always known how to fly one of these.' Axel replied smoothly, navigating the copter away from the government facility. Both Marluxia and Demyx stared and him, both completely surprised.

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** Happy Thanksgiving!

**Danny:** Hooray! Food!

**Random Moogle:** I unfortunately have the grievous task of telling the reviewers that Sahxyel will no longer be doing the reply to reviews section. She hopes you all understand, but she's been getting bugged that if she doesn't stop, she'll get her account deleted or something. Sorry, kupo.

**Sahxyel:** Hope you all like this chapter, and the next will be put up whenever I have spare time and no essays due to AP English Language. Blah.


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